#then again i saw that there were like 75 applicants (last i checked) for this job so maybe they found some better dude to offer it to? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

star-trekkin-across-theuniverse · 3 years

Text

Worthy, pt 1 & 2

I stopped and stared up at the building in front of me. Imposing, huge, and a beacon for anyone concerned with clean energy. I had won the internship at Stark Industries research and development division by working my ass off all year, coming up with innovative and exciting ways to utilize the arc reactor technology. I’d been interviewed by Mr. Stark himself when it came time to award the position. I’d never been so excited to work in an unpaid position in my life. It was made all the better by being in New York City. And even more awesome because accommodation was provided in the tower. Even if the internship didn’t lead to permanent employment at Stark Industries after my sojourn there, it would be a resume jackpot.

I stopped at the main security desk and picked up my passcard. Elizabeth Carmichael. It sounded much more glamourous than Ella did, but I’d never been called Elizabeth in my entire life. Always Ella, except from my Nan, who called me Bethy. I clipped the tag on my blouse and headed to the elevator. The email from the HR department had been clear: pick up your passcard, and report to the main office of R&D on the 55th floor. I pressed the button and waited for the elevator to close. A hand reached in to stop the door and Mr. Stark stepped in. He smiled, like he would to anyone he shared the elevator with, and then his eyes narrowed as he read my nametag.

“Ms. Carmichael! You’ve made it to the city then? Where are your bags? Are you not staying on site?” He spoke so fast I could barely follow him.

“My flight arrived late last night. I thought I would stay at a hotel overnight and then get organized to move into my room, sir.” I felt breathless just trying to keep up with his speech, and rushed through my own explanation.

“We’ll send someone to collect your things. We’re having a little social in the lounge tonight; you don’t want to miss it. Good networking opportunities. There are three of you that earned internships. Pepper was particularly excited about you. Not a lot of women in STEM, you know. So we’re having a meet and greet for the three of you. Mostly Stark staff, but there'll be some others in attendance. Angela will get you organized.” There was even information stored in the nuances of how he spoke. It was going to be overwhelming until I got used to it. If I got the chance to get used to it. This elevator interaction might be the last time I saw Mr. Stark for the rest of the summer. The elevator doors opened, and I stepped out into the bright, clean research and development administrative office. I waited at the desk while the woman sitting there was on a call. Her nameplate said Angela, so I suspected she was who Mr. Stark said would organize me.

“Ella, right?” She swivelled her chair to face me. I nodded. “I’ve already contacted the concierge at your hotel to have your belongings sent over. I’ll show you to your rooms at the end of your orientation and tour. Then you can get settled.”

“I won’t be working?” I was surprised.

“Not today. Today is all about the Stark Industries machine and how you fit into it. So orientation to the labs, meet some of the people you’ll be working under, settling into your suite and figuring out your way around. There’s a meet and greet tonight.” She typed something into her computer and then rose. Without waiting for me, she headed off down a hallway. “This is the administrative floor for Research and Development. R&D takes twenty floors here, from 55 to 75. Starting at the 76th floor, the Avengers Tower begins, and you’ll only end up there if Mr. Stark wants to meet with you. Well, and for the mixer tonight. The 56th and 57th floors are all housing. Our guest scientists are housed on 56 and your suite is on 57. The project you’ve been assigned to is an offshoot of the household arc reactor project, and will allow you to work on one of your proposals. That division is on 60 through 65. Your direct supervisor is Markus Reid.” I scrambled to scribble notes and keep up with her and she led me through a maze of hallways and offices. We finally came to a halt and I was so busy scratching notes into my notebook that I bumped into her.

“Oh, god. Sorry,” I apologized. She smiled and shook her head.

“Relax, Ella. You were the top candidate. Your proposals rocked Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts' socks off. You belong here,” she reassured me. “And I’m going to email all this info to you, so you can put away your notebook.”

“Thanks. I’m feeling a bit small right now,” I admitted.

“The first few days are very overwhelming for every Stark Industries employee. It’s why we schedule nothing work-related on the first day.” She knocked on a door and hesitated just a second before opening it. “I have Elizabeth Carmichael here to sign some paperwork.” She led me into the office, and sat in a chair near the door after pointing to a chair at the desk. Another woman smiled and dropped a sheaf of paper in front of me.

“The bottom half of that is the paperwork for you that explains everything in the top half. But this is a basic non-disclosure agreement. The second one is the follow up to the initial waiver you signed when you applied for the internship, giving proprietary rights to Stark Industries, while maintaining your intellectual property, authorship and development rights. That basically means if what you’re working on goes into production, it will be a Stark Industries product, but you will be credited as the inventor. There’s some tax paperwork and a release for your university.” The woman handed me a pen. I looked up at her while I tried to process everything she’d explained.

“Tax paperwork?”

“For your pay.”

“Oh, I’m here for the internship. I’m not paid.” I thought that would be clear to an HR person.

“No, Mr. Stark pays his interns. It makes the transition when you are hired easier,” she explained.

“What?”

“Did you not read your acceptance package?” She gave me a look that suggested she thought I might be stupid.

“I did. It suggested that if Stark Industries was happy with my performance, I could be offered an extension at the end of the internship, provided my degree was complete.” At least, that’s what I’d understood from reading it.

“And you’ve already provided transcripts showing you’ve finished both your bachelor’s and master’s degrees. There were only three internships offered, Ms. Carmichael. We complete all your paperwork now with the assumption that you will be staying on at Stark Industries. If you’ve passed our rigorous application process, we feel you are a keeper. If you choose not to stay, it will be because you chose not to stay,” She explained. I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. I knew the internship was prestigious, but I didn’t realize exactly how incredible it was.

“Oh. Well. In that case,” I said and scratched my signature across the papers in front of me. She offered her hand. I stood and shook it.

“Welcome to Stark Industries, Ms. Carmichael.”

XXX

The rest of the day passed in a blur. Angela assured me that her email would include maps, and secret notes and tidbits that would help me remember everything, but I was so floored from the words of the HR person that I really couldn’t focus. Angela led me to the commissary for lunch and ordered for both of us. I didn’t even realize until she handed me a tray with food on it.

“Are you going to be okay?” She asked. I gave my head a little shake to snap back to reality and smiled in apology.

“Sorry. I’m feeling even more overwhelmed than I was when I got out of the cab this morning,” I laughed. She took a seat at a table and nodded for me to sit across from her.

“You should give yourself some credit. You earned your place here. Pepper is really excited about having you. I suspect you’ll be the poster child for gender equality at Stark Industries for some time to come. As soon as you won that internship, your place here was secured. Probably for life,” she grinned. I shook my head.

“What if I’m a dud?”

“You aren’t though. Mr. Stark himself thoroughly vetted your application, and Pepper went through your references with a fine tooth comb. She even tracked down extra references. You deserve this more than anyone who’s ever applied before, Ella.”

“I feel like I might be sick,” I groaned. It was her turn to shake her head.

“It’s first day jitters. Once you’ve settled into a routine and have your nose into all that sciencey stuff you do, it’ll all blow over,” She laughed. I didn’t want to pick a fight so I just focussed on my lunch.

XXX

My suite was ridiculous. I’d understood we’d be provided with a room. In my mind, I had thought dormitory style, like at university. I was quickly learning Tony Stark did nothing by halves. I had a suite. First of all, the whole thing was fully furnished. The master bedroom had the biggest bed I’d ever seen in it, and an ensuite bathroom with a shower bigger than my last dorm room. There was a second bedroom, I’m not sure why. Plus an office, an open floor plan living room and kitchen and a main bathroom. There was a storage closet that I’m pretty sure could have kept a small family comfortable. And a deck with a view of the city. I opened the fridge and discovered it had been fully stocked already. I grabbed a bottle of water and stood at the counter, the overwhelming feeling of just too much washing across me again. There was a bound book on the counter, and when I flipped through it, I realized it was a Stark Tower lifestyle guide, with information about the pool, the gym, the on-site movie theatre, the commissary, and on and on. There was a tablet on the wall that allowed you to order in take-away or groceries. Housekeeping was once a week. I pinched myself to make sure it wasn’t a dream, fully expecting to awaken back in the dorm room at the university. But I didn’t.

I unpacked my bags and checked my email for the details on the get together. Casual evening wear. What was that, even? I grabbed my phone and texted Angela. Whether she liked it or not, she was my new bestie.

“What does casual evening wear mean?”

“Nothing too fancy. Knee length dress is more appropriate than floor length.”

“I’ve been in university for the last nine years. I have nothing even remotely appropriate.”

“I’m on it. I’ll meet you in the lobby.”

XXX

“I’m sorry, Angela, I just didn’t know who else to ask.” I felt like all I was doing was apologizing to her. She laughed.

“You’re my assignment for the next few weeks. And you are so much nicer than the last new hire I was paired with. I can see actually wanting to spend time with you,” she laughed.

“Really? You’re my personal person?” I arched an eyebrow. She laughed again.

“Something like that. Human Resources likes to pair someone from admin to new hires as an orientation guide. It’s a pretty awesome job, to be honest. I get to meet most of the new people on their way in the door. Make lots of new friends. Meet lots of cute science nerd guys.” She winked. I laughed.

“And yet you don’t mind being assigned me. I must be very special indeed,” I teased.

“You’re little lost puppy eyes sucked me right in,” she giggled. “Come on, let’s get you a dress.” It felt like she dragged me all over town, but the truth was, we didn’t go far, and we only visited a couple of stores. I tried on everything she brought to me, and let her tell me what looked best. I was most comfortable in jeans, a t-shirt and a lab coat, so I trusted her judgement. We were a whirlwind of activity after picking the dress. She steered me over to a shoe store, and then a make-up store. I didn’t even realize there was such a thing as a make-up store. I only kept mascara in my bathroom because my eyelashes were so light you couldn’t see them without a bit of mascara on them.

When we finally got back to the building, I wanted nothing more than to take a nap. Angela shooed me into the shower and ordered us some dinner instead. She helped me with my hair and then sat me down to eat.

“Do you wear contacts ever?” She asked. I pushed my glasses up my nose and shook my head.

“No, they don’t make contacts for eyes like mine,” I admitted.

“Okay. I can work with that,” she looked at me thoughtfully and chewed on her pizza. Before I knew it, she was rearranging my hair, and applying make-up and amazingly, although I’d honestly never thought I’d enjoy the fuss that went along with dressing up, I did enjoy myself. It helped that Angela kept a running commentary of exclamations about how pretty I was, and how nice my eyes were. I never had thought there was anything particularly special about my brown hair and brown eyes. I changed my mind when Angela let me look in the mirror. My hair was loose and wavy, and cascaded over my shoulders. The red dress she’d found for me highlighted that my hair was more than one shade of brown, and brought out the natural glow in my cheeks. My eyes, despite being framed behind my glasses, looked big and sparkly.

“Wow.”

“You’ll have half the R&D guys begging for your number by the end of the night!” Angela laughed. I blushed.

“I don’t know about that,” I protested. She laughed again.

“Come on. I’ll be your wingman.” She linked arms with me and led me out the door and to the elevator. XXX

The crushing feeling of inadequacy hit me again as the elevator opened up to let us out into the cocktail party. I hesitated at the gap between the elevator and the large, noisy room. Angela gave me a gentle nudge, but I froze, taking in the panorama in front of me. Almost every scientist I’d ever quoted in any of my research was standing in that room, mingling with one another. When Tony Stark isn’t the biggest name in a room, it can make you pause. I’m pretty sure I recognized the most recent recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics standing by the bar. And Dr. Banner was lingering near the door to the patio and pool deck, looking exceptionally uncomfortable. At least he was near an exit where he could cool off and relax if he needed to. His research was what drove me into the sciences. In the end, I decided gamma radiation wasn’t really the area I was passionate about, and pursued research that put me in Stark’s path. But he was still kinda my hero.

“If you don’t step off this elevator right now, I’m going to push you off, and then you’ll draw a lot more attention to yourself than if you act like a normal person.” Angela had my number already. I stepped into the party tentatively. Angela steered me straight to the bar. “Let’s get a drink into you, loosen you up a little. These people have all been where you are, Ella. What’s your poison?”

“Vodka, rocks.” My eyes were glued to the room, and I just kept recognizing more and more people. Surely they all didn’t work for Stark Industries. I would have noticed that at some point during my application process. Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts saw me as Angela handed me my drink. Ms. Potts smiled in welcome and headed straight to me. I didn’t have time to panic.

“Ms. Carmichael! I’m so pleased to see you. You look a bit like a canary in a room of cats. Don’t. They’re all harmless. And some of them are very excited to discuss your proposals with you,” she took my hand and squeezed it familiarly. It was not at all like my boss was shaking my hand, but more like a friend greeting me.

“It’s nice to see you again, Ms. Potts.” I managed, and took a sip from my glass.

“Please, Pepper is fine. We’ll reserve the formality for press releases,” she smiled. “Are you settling into your rooms?”

“I am. They’re much more than I was expecting. Everything about this internship is more than I was expecting,” I blurted. I was nervous enough that I took a perhaps-larger-than-it-should-have-been swallow from my glass and nearly choked.

“We’re so pleased you accepted, Ms. Carmichael,” Pepper gushed. “Really. I’m sure Angela has filled you in about the women in STEM initiative Stark Industries is backing.”

“If I’m going to call you Pepper, you’re going to have to call me Ella. Angela mentioned a little about it, but I didn’t realize there was an entire initiative.” The combination of vodka and talking shop with Pepper was starting to ease my nerves, and I could feel the tension starting to melt from my shoulders.

“We’re starting summer and weekend science and technology camps for girls. I’m hoping you’ll be able to find some time to work with me on promoting them. I think Angela has scheduled a meeting for us sometime in the next few days,” she explained.

“That would be really cool.” I took another sip. There wasn’t much left in my glass. I was going to need to slow down. Mr. Stark was watching the crowd, but I could tell that his head was in our conversation.

“I hope you’ll come out of your shell a little, Ms. Carmichael. You were vibrant during the interview process. I hope that wasn’t a one-off. It’ll be hard to sell STEM as cool with a mousy science nerd girl as the PR star.” He was suddenly back in the conversation full force. I flushed.

“Tony! It’s first-day nerves. We can’t all be the shiniest constellation in the sky all the time,” Pepper scolded him. “Don’t pay attention to him, Ella. Parties bring out the worst of his quirks.” The way she said it, I could almost see the air-quotes hanging in the air around the word quirks. I smiled.

“I promise you, Mr. Stark. I can be just as shiny as you need me to be when surrounded by young women. It’s when I’m in the presence of the likes of Dr. Banner and Dr. McCoy that I tend to get star-struck. And I think, did I see Reed Richards?” I found my voice. Mr. Stark smiled.

“Since we’re all making friends, you may as well call me Tony,” he allowed. “I make sure my best and brightest get a chance to meet the best and brightest.”

“As much as I appreciate the opportunity, it’s just a little overwhelming.” I felt it was only fair to be honest with them, since they were my employers. Pepper squeezed my hand again.

“I have no doubt, after speaking to your references, that you will be everything that we are looking for, Ella,” she reassured me. I took another sip from my glass, and Tony suddenly noticed it in my hand.

“Please tell me that’s not water. We have a strict no water at parties rule here at Stark Industries.” Mr. Stark took my glass away and finished what was left. He coughed and handed it back. “Oh, I think you’re going to fit in here quite well, Mouse.” Angela took the glass from me and got a fresh one from the bar. I reminded myself to go slow. There was no point in getting drunk in front of such an auspicious crowd on my first day.

Angela led me around to a number of people I would be working with, including my direct supervisor, Markus Reid. He shook my hand with enthusiasm and launched into a long-winded explanation of my project and how it would fit in with his project. I found myself lingering with him for longer than was probably necessary. He was passionate about his work with the arc reactor technology and he reminded me of my thesis supervisor, ready to help and happy to share whatever advances he had discovered. It was the lynchpin in making me settle for the evening. If my supervisor was excited to have me, no one else really mattered. Angela’s face lit up and she excused me from the conversation.

“Shut up. You are not going to believe this. I have someone to introduce to you!” She exclaimed. I followed her as she led me across the lounge and toward the windows overlooking the outside deck. I couldn’t figure out who she wanted me to meet, but the last person who’d been near where we were headed was Dr. Banner, and I was sure she’d seen him earlier. She slowed to a more dignified walk and led me to Dr. Banner. He was chatting with a petite brunette who looked familiar, but I couldn’t quite place her. Dr. Banner looked up and acknowledged Angela as he finished what he was saying to the other woman.

“Angela, you always walk with such purpose.” His tone was warm, and he gripped her hand with both of his. It was obvious from Angela’s relaxed posture that they’d worked with each other a few times.

“Comes with the job. This is Elizabeth Carmichael, one of the new interns here at Stark,” she introduced me. “Ella, this is Bruce Banner.” She paused and turned toward the woman. “And if I’m not mistaken, this is Dr. Jane Foster?” Dr. Banner shook my hand and nodded toward Dr. Foster.

“So pleased to meet you, Dr. Banner. It was your work that led me into the sciences.” I tried not to gush. I don’t think I was successful.

“Really? My understanding was that physics and engineering were your specialties,” he asked. My heart nearly stopped. He knew my areas of study. My science geek girl idol knew my specialties.

“I got really into green energy during my undergrad studies, and my focus switched,” I admitted.

“And my accident had nothing to do with that?” He raised an eyebrow. I laughed and realized that might not have been the best response. I bit back my smile and shook my head.

“Actually, no. Your accident happened when I was in first year, and I stuck with my studies as a minor. It was when it was time to begin my master’s that I felt I could do more good, with my level of knowledge, if I pursued green energy,” I explained. He looked thoughtful.

“And once again, Bruce, I point out that your accident has significantly less effect on the opinions of others than you think,” Dr. Foster jumped in, and offered her hand. I shook it. “Such a pleasure to meet you, Ella. Tony has been beside himself with excitement about your thesis. I think the other two interns might be getting the short end of the stick.”

“Except that there is no short end of the stick at Stark,” Banner argued. Dr. Foster laughed and nodded.

“It’s so true. I wish these internships had existed when I was struggling for funding.” she looked past my shoulder, distracted. I turned and followed her gaze until it lit on the most beautiful man I think I’d ever seen. He was tall, and blond, and broad, with a big smile and an equally large laugh. And from the way Dr. Foster was looking at him, I realized he must be Thor. “I didn’t realize he was going to be here.” The smile fell from her face.

“I’m sorry, Jane, I had no idea. Why would he be here? He’s not one of you sciencey types,” Angela apologized. Dr. Foster turned to me and shook my hand again.

“It was truly lovely to meet you, Ella. I look forward to watching your project. If you ever need anything, Angela can get you in touch with me. Even if it’s just a woman-to-woman bitchfest. We STEM ladies need to stick together.” She excused herself and made her way quickly to the elevator. Angela and I watched her as the elevator doors closed. I was disappointed, but turned back to Dr. Banner. He opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by Thor stepping up to us.

“Banner, my friend! It has been too long since we’ve met. You look well!” Everything about Thor was big. He pulled Dr. Banner into one of those one-armed-man-hugs, his massive arms straining against the confines of his t-shirt. He towered over both of us. He released Dr. Banner and turned to Angela and I. If I looked anything like Angela did, I was gawking like a slack-jawed idiot. I nudged her gently and she closed her mouth.

“Ladies, it is well to make your acquaintance. I am Thor, of Asgard,” he introduced, taking my hand and kissing my knuckles. I raised an eyebrow and glanced at Angela.

“Ella Carmichael.” I couldn’t form any other words. There was just so much of him, and it was so close. I was completely star-struck in a way I’d never been about a fellow scientist. He took Angela’s hand.

“Angela Benett,” she breathed. I was so glad I wasn’t the only one on the verge of swooning. The man was truly a specimen. Banner cleared his throat, and I snapped my attention back over to the man who had arguably been the first crush of my science geeky heart.

“What brings you here, Thor?” he asked. Thor turned back to him and smiled his ridiculous, large, beautiful smile.

“I had need to speak to Tony. I’d not realized it was a celebration, or I would have come tomorrow. Twas not urgent,” he explained. “And I am afraid I have chased Jane from her colleagues.” There was regret in his tone. Things were obviously over with them, not merely bumpy or awkward.

“He said twas,” I whispered to Angela. She stifled a giggle. I’m not sure why it was so amusing, other than that I had finished my second vodka. I’m not sure what her excuse was; I knew she hadn’t been drinking. “I hope we’ll get a chance to talk more about what you’re studying now, Dr. Banner.” I had to excuse myself before I made an idiot of myself in front of Dr. Banner and Thor. Angela followed me to the deck. I stretched out on a deck chair and looked up at the sky. Stark Tower was so high that it seemed to be above the smog of the city. There was still loads of light pollution, but I was reassured that the stars were the same in New York City as they were at home in Washington. We sat quietly for a few minutes.

“Thanks for being my sidekick, Angela,” I sighed. “I don’t know if I’d have made it through the afternoon, let alone this evening, without your assistance.”

“Well, like I said, it’s my job. But paycheque aside, you’re alright, Ella,” she chuckled.

“I’m glad you think so. I don’t know if I can afford Stark wages to keep you as a friend.” Across the deck something caught my eye, and I slipped off my shoes to walk over to it. Angela must have seen it too because she followed curiously. It was the biggest damn hammer I’ve ever seen in my life, just sitting on a low table beside the pool. It was fancy, tooled with knotwork. I ran my hand over it. I wasn’t sure what it was made of. It had the warm feel of vibranium, but it almost seemed to hum under my hand. I slid my hand up the leather wrapped handle. The grip was comfortable. I squeezed the handle, and felt the give of the leather wrap against my hand.

“I don’t know if you should be playing with that, Ella,” Angela warned.

“What do you suppose it is? It feels like it’s got more of a purpose than just a giant paperweight, or decoration,” I thought out loud, flexing my fingers along the handle. It felt like it needed to be held. I might not be describing that properly, but it was almost like it spoke to me. Which clearly suggested I’d had too much to drink.

“I haven’t seen it before, but I don’t get up into this part of the tower much. Is it heavy? Maybe it’s a prop or a prototype or some sort,” Angela shrugged. I adjusted my grip on the handle and prepared myself to lift it, assuming it would be ridiculously heavy. I was surprised when after a slight tug of resistance, I was able to heft the thing in the air. The air around us crackled with static, and suddenly a shock ran through my body, from the hand that was holding the hammer through to my feet. Everything around me slowed down, almost like slow motion in the movies. I looked up at Angela and saw Thor and Dr. Banner running towards us over her shoulder. Thor was reaching out, his mouth forming some kind of words, but I couldn’t hear them. I felt the hammer tug out of my hand and it flew away from me. The electricity left my body and I collapsed on the pool deck.

“What the actual fuck?” I muttered before blackness overtook my thoughts.

#bruce banner x OFC

34 notes · View notes

luana-writes · 3 years

Text

chapter one

THERE WERE TWO UNSPOKEN rules Arlence Academy's fourth years abided by when dusk settled, wands cooled down and school hallways closed. Everything went, even if it usually didn't. And you never saw anything, even if you were sure you did.

Those rules did not apply to Sage.

A cool night breeze rushed past the center courtyard's trees, their leaves in orange to dark red tones twirling over the fences caging them away from the surrounding school corridors. Their edges were frayed and delicate. The type that cracked away from the rest of its body and crumbled with the slight push from Sage's shoe in an effort to clear the hallway path. Each crunch under her weight made the beat in her heart pound harder, echoing over and over again in her ears, but she kept her gaze focused. She couldn't afford to get caught today, not on her last run before winter break. She snuck past the corner, into a smaller hallway then another, turning right, left, moving past the staircase...

The girl hummed lowly to herself, dark eyes brushing past the clock hanging over the 3rd archway in her path. Its longest handle inched slightly closer to timepeace's top. 10 minutes until new guard rotations.

It'd leave ample time for her to find Auri's book and return the old one. She held the 800 page monstrosity before her as she walked, running her hand along its plain cover. "From Mana to Magic: The Art of Application '' was a supposedly complex magical theory study. The kind so long that it made her headache just at the thought of needing to remember, the strange tang of bile rising to her throat with every lingering glance at its dense page block. She turned it over to read the back. Auri liked those kinds of long, drawn out books for whatever reason. Sage herself wasn't entirely sure. The materials weren't relevant to classes, or anything incredibly new. Just regurgitated research. The same spiel on how, magic was the application of an inner spiritual force into the physical. Or how mana, the spiritual force in question, supposedly resided in all earthly elements. Emphasis on the "supposedly" part in Sage's case. Studies of that sort had never been interesting, and no matter how little personal interactions Sage had with the girl, she knew Auri wasn't reading them for fun. She didn't do fun in the first place. Just sitting in her room all-day, frowning, grunting lowly at things or spouting out orders.

Like that earlier morning, when Auri shoved the book into Sage's hands upon leaving her room. Hands that'd been holding a freshly brewed cup of dormitory cocoa milk. "Return it. I need Rituals in Magic." She'd pushed her golden spectacles over her straight, tan nose before walking off, leaving Sage standing in the hallway with a three pound packet of pages. And milk all over her uniform skirt. She smelled of cocoa beans for the rest of the day, and the worst part was that all she could do was politely smile and laugh about her "little accident". Accident her blotchy, brown-stained boot.

She raised her head from the book between her hands. The Main Library's doors were imported from some distant faraway Kingdom she wouldn't even dare try to remember, carved by renowned sculptor Elin Garnas. He was said to have spent 74 days and 75 nights bringing to life the essence of their school emblem; The Dragon. Vines wrapped around each door's frame slowly closing into the middle, encircling the mythical creature. Its mouth was held open, tongue halfway out ready to breathe fire and cause devastation to everything in his path. Dark, beady eyes casted downward, as if he were focused on his snout. Though it didn't really feel that way.

"Don't look at me like that," The girl muttered lowly as she pulled an extra pin out of her tightly coiled hair. She stuck it into the lock, twisting to the right until she heard a loud click. The door to the library opened slightly ajar.

Her eyebrows drew together the second she stepped in, the strong scent of paper invading her nostrils. She hated the smell of books, distant reminders of her childhood, simultaneously too long and too short. Yet despite it, it was where she spent the most of her time.

Sage ran her hand along shelves as she reached the center of the room, plopping the heavy book onto the librarian's desk. A small layer of dust lifted along with it causing her to scrunch her nose. She slid the volume to the other end of the table, well aware of the occasional shuffling noises outside the biggest window. She wasn't the only fourth year who profited from the 10 minute break between teacher shifts to break rules. Just to use it to trespass into old, boring libraries instead of play pranks or games with friends.

And she was completely fine with being in her own corner, really. Because unlike the rest, getting caught by classmates wouldn't end with a simple wry smile and shushing motion in the dead of night. No, it'd crumble the entire reputation she worked so hard to build. Careful years of planning, hard-work and an unsupportable amount of sucking up.

Sage hid the book under the return pile, raising to see the overhead clock. 7 more minutes. She had enough time to get Rituals in Magic, then dip out before more students passed by. There were the usual rebellious wall-artists, romantic couples, gossipers, pranksters.... or, sometimes him. The bastard with freakishly strong senses who plagued her during the day, and at night wooshed past that same window exactly 2 minutes before teachers returned to their posts. Who's eyes always lingered on her for a little too long when she lied, followed after her whenever she tried to sneak away, somehow always found her before she found him. He was the man who kept her from reaching the topmost spot in Arlence Academy. The one she deserved.

Her feet treaded up the grand staircase leading to the second storey, the area for final years. Her favorite. Though Sage hated the smell of books, she couldn't say the same for their contents. Volumes packed to the brim with information taught her everything she knew. From the art of paint, to swimming to more obscure skills such as, uh, lock picking. Her mind flashed back to brief memories of pouring over manuals in the dead of the night with only a dim oil lamp to illuminate their words. Piles of paper. Pens without ink. Bloodied needle pins. Red-stained napkins.

She stopped, almost bumping into a cartful of books. She didn't notice at first, but they littered the corridors of shelves. She picked up one that fell, narrowing her eyes. The title read something along the lines of "History of the Continent". Finals ended last week so an influx of returns wasn't uncommon but they were usually all sorted over during the weekend. She checked the shelves, the book still in hand. Wait. She was in the Economics and Trade area of the library, not history. Her eyes scoured the floor, a curse escaping from her lips.

"Smokes," she put it back into the cart. Everything was a mess. She wouldn't be able to find Auri's book. The heavy heartbeat returned as she hurried to the Magic Theory section, her worse thoughts confirmed. Even more carts were shuffled in this corner of the library, a few lining the staircase to the third storey -- restricted to teachers. At least a minute had passed since she saw the clock, meaning she only had 6 left.

Sage's heart pounded in her chest as she shuffled through piles, ignoring the small cut lining her index from a particularly sharp paperback. Everything would be over if she messed up. Auri would tell her father. The Duke would get her taken out of Arlence. She'd be without credentials. A drop-out. The beat got stronger the more seconds passed, drowning out the occasional sounds of grouped fourth years giggling as they broke curfew rules outside the window. She shifted easily past those she recalled reading, that being nearly all of them. Rituals in Magic had to be amongst them. It was one of the few books she read out of pure interest about a month back. Not because it was for a class, or skill she needed to beat everyone else in. Just because it was there. And fun.

She reached the bottom of the third cart, all books she knew she read save for one. "Runes in Magic." She turned it over. This one, at the very least, with an r and ended the same way her target did. It would be close enough. It had to be. Spending too much time searching would get her caught. By him, or the teachers. Her hands shook as she put it aside, placing all other books back. Auri always needed to get exactly what she asked for. And Sage had never disappointed before, no matter how difficult the task was. Until now.

She picked up the book, putting the cart back in its place next to the staircase. She hastened to the other end of the shelf. She just had to leave and.. God she forgot. Lekha would need a book from the romance section too. Sage dashed past the shelves, ready to turn the corner then stopped. She retracted her steps. Right at the end of the shelf, stacked neatly as if it were always there sat Rituals In Magic. Maybe it was because it was always there. The girl stood planted. Rituals In Magic was a personal read for her back then. It had nothing to do with school material, or the finals. No one had touched it. She barely had the time to register her stupidity. Or the shame from almost messing it all up. From forgetting to remember. Again.

Books held close to her chest, she rushed to the bottom of the grand staircase. Sage's head swiveled to the clock, indicating 3 minutes left then to the romance section. Auri didn't like frilly literature, but her sister did. And Lekha always needed to be brought back something.

She combed through titles, the kinds with covers that'd make even battle-torn mercenaries blush, her back against the main window. Lekha was the adventurous type. She didn't care for simple princes. Give her servant girls whisked away by rugged princesses instead, loner mages, gentle assassins, battle-torn warriors... half-wolf men. No matter how hard she tried to forget the horror of that one.

Sage's eye wandered to the clock and she cursed under her breath. She had two minutes left until teachers were due, but about 3 seconds until him. The man who always flew by the window at the exact same time. There wasn't a moment to waste as she dropped the books, immediately rushing to slide behind a bookcase knowing full well it would offer little protection against his ability. Forget getting the wrong book, being caught and exposed by him would truly ruin her. Not only would she become an outcast once more but she would need to leave Arlence. And let him win once-and-for-all.

If he found her she'd kill him. She decided. Then what? She didn't have her sword with her. Her mind combed through plans at an unimaginable rate. He wasn't the type to give into bribery. No, the greatest present one could give him would be the sight of their life crumbling before his eyes as they descended into madness and failure, to never see the light of day again. She paused. That wasn't fully right either. No, he seemed more like a type who took pleasure in getting those results himself instead of handed to him. He'd frown. Not from pity or realizing the gravity of his actions, but dissatisfaction. Dissatisfaction that he didn't contribute to mankind's descent to depravity. Her rapidly escalating thoughts were interrupted by a red flash from the window. The manifestation of nearly neon, vivid energy. Such a colour that only he could possess.

Then nothing else.

The girl raised her head, basically pounding from stress. Sage peeked from the shelf, gripping the sharp pin in her uniform pocket. Just in case. No one was there. He passed just like that. A look of puzzlement crossed her face as she stepped out fully. He was more than strong enough to sense her presence. But didn't.

This only meant one thing. Sage looked above and nodded her head in reverence. The Heavens took pity on her. And she wouldn't be dumb enough to let such a sacred opportunity pass.

She swiped the books dropped before the big window, then a short series about some runaway princess and her royal guard for Lekha, then booked it out of the library.

Her low-heels clicked against the hallway, this time ignoring the leaves littering its floors. She ducked under the staircase, praying there weren't any Fourth Years loitering in the passage. Sage avoided the secret ways around the school during her nights out like this because they were too commonly used. But the Sky seemed to have taken pity on her again, for they were empty. She wouldn't have to risk running into teachers entering patrol tonight.

Arlence Academy's secret passages dug under the school, connecting the main building with outbuildings and dormitories in a complicated labyrinth. It took her 2 years to remember them properly, and even now she was only familiar with the route to her own dorm and the training area. Usually she'd do a little detour to the swordsmens' building. Check up on her baby, Pheni, maybe organize a few other weapons to take a step back from the whole "serving Auri and Lekha" thing she had going on. Key word being usually. Tonight, her route was straight for her dorm. She couldn't waste a single other second outside her room.

The heavy humid air got lighter as she reached the dorm building, rushing up steps as quickly as possible. Her feet lightened too as she reached the trap door. Sage paused, listening for anyone above. There was occasional noise from other bedrooms, but otherwise nothing major. Not that anyone would care to check if she made any noise anyways. She took a big breath of fresh air as she pushed the door open, placing the stack of books onto the floor first before hoisting herself up with the help of a small pile of stones stacked one on top of the other. She pushed it close behind her.

The rest was basically a blur. She dropped off "Rituals In Magic" on the corner of Auri's door frame then shuffled her feet up the stairs. The steps to the top floor were winding, and creaked whenever someone walked up the left side instead of the right. The other extreme was lined with windows, who's view she practically memorized. It showcased the main building in all its wondrous splendour, built exactly how one would imagine an old castle despite not having reached a century of education yet. Towers littered each corner but the highest of them all was the only one situated in the middle of the school. Middle back to be more precise, between North and West. They nicknamed it Esoteric; the only magic tower that no student had ever entered before. Graduating classes took their final magic examination inside once a year, then left. No one ever spoke of what happened in that tower, or wanted to, which is exactly what made it catch Sage's attention more than ever.

She reached the top, a weird sense of relief invading her body at the warm sight of her bedroom door. Just a few steps away. She was almost there.

The door right next to Sage suddenly swung open, bathing the dark hall with light. Or not.

"Sage." Lekha spoke. Auri's twin sister looked vastly different from her, despite sharing the same face. For once her hair was longer, down to the small of her back. There was a small ring in her nose, and her thin lips were never without at least a tint of rouge. Same for her cheeks and neck always adjourned in jewels. Even in the dead of night, when she was supposed to sleep. The golden bangles along her wrist clinked together as leaned against her door frame. "Young Miss Nochad," Sage smiled, focusing on the girl's face in a desperate attempt to ignore a reflective diamond threatening to permanently blind her, "I went to catch some stuff for Auri and thought of you, I found a few novels."

Her eyes sparkled slightly, a smile forming at her lips, "Goodness, you didn't need to do that."

She did.

"Hand them over," She reached over to grab the books from Sage, practically snatching the entire stack from her hands. A long nail scratched against the back of the girl's palm, but she was too numb with adrenaline to even feel pain. Nevertheless, do something about it.

Sage tucked the hand behind her back instead as Lekha shuffled through 3 books. "Father will hate this." She turned the book over to look at its scandalous cover, "This'll do perfect for the break month."

"Glad you enjoy it-"

"But, I don't need this." She pulled the last book in the stack out, giving it back to Sage. The girl's lip twitched. "Runes in Magic." She'd brought that damned book back too in her rush to escape. "Ah, that must be for your sister, my mistake. I was in a bit of a rush"

"You do look quite disheveled." She replied, though she looked a lot more preoccupied with the scandalous cover in her hands than Sage's appearance, "You're really one of the good ones. No mana but not useless. Still so helpful and trustworthy."

Sage smiled tightly, but didn't answer.

"Don't forget to have some sleep."

"Of course," She kept the smile, nodding her head in reverence, "Please sleep well, Miss. Nochad."

"You too." The door shut, plunging the corridor back into the darkness. Sage contained the sigh on her lips until she fiddled open her front door handle. She closed it behind her, leaning her back against the door. Finally, she was done.

No, almost. She still had to endure tomorrow. They'd announce the leaderboard results from the finals, then everyone would get packing and leave. Leave her alone in the dormitory for the next month whilst they celebrated the winter break with family. Sage tossed the book onto her desk, stacked with scrunched up papers and capless pens. A few notes littered the surface too, papers that fell off the huge board lined over her desk full of nothing but tiny notes. They listed small useless pieces of information and dates. Reminders.

She was 90% sure something clanked somewhere amongst the mess, but she was too tired to care. She placed her shoes under the table, picking up a paper that fell from her wall along with it. Her eyes widened as she read the note. Right, she had forgotten. The girl had plans to borrow a few more books from the library this week. She changed her clothing, pulling out a hair pick and scarf. Lekha had already started to order dresses for the Finals Ball despite it being months away, meaning Sage had to brush up on her dressmaking skills. Something she hadn't touched since she was 10. Or 8. Or 13, she really couldn't remember. Either way, it was best to be prepped for anything. Whether it be fixing a seam, button pulled out of anger or making an entirely new garment last minute. She had to prove herself useful. She paused, reciting it to herself a few more items. Yeah, that was it.

The girl stepped closer to her window as she wrapped up her hair. It provided a perfect view of the outbuildings. Properties that littered her little corner of campus, housing specialized hobbies that wouldn't fit into the core magic classes of the main building. The biggest and farthest amongst them all was the sword building, her beautiful sword, Pheni's home. And hers too for the next 4 weeks when everyone would be away. She couldn't wait.

Sage narrowed her eyes. There was something entering the swords building. A faint blob of almost neon red. It was unmistakably, well him, but something was off. His friends weren't with him. He was alone. Which was weird. He was weird. There wasn't much she could see clearly considering he was hundreds of feet away, but the unmistakable blond dreads that contrasted with his skin a few shades darker than hers were still very much there. Overflowing spiritual energy and all that... as far as she could tell he didn't look weird physically. At all. But still, something ticked at the back of her mind. He entered the building and Sage shook her head as if to ignore her thoughts. She was tired. She just needed to go to sleep.

She didn't.

A few seconds later a boom echoed into the night. She jumped back, her hair scarf falling onto her shoulders. A bright red light faded into nothingness as quickly as it appeared, but its effects didn't. She rubbed her eyes, unable to believe the sight before her. Right on the far-end of the Campus, there was a hole in the earth.

Goodness. The bastard put a damned hole in the earth.

A/N ⭲ This chapter is so unbelievably long, probably the longest I've ever written in my life but we have yet to see if nearly 4k word chapters be a usually occurence or not. On the other hand, something I've just discovered came with the whole "magic academy" writing thing is that I can make the uniforms be whatever I want. And when I tell you guys I have the most genius, cutest ensemble ideas I mean it. Only issue is that I can't draw to save my life, and don't know any apps where they do it for me. If anyone's interested I might put together a pinterest moodboard or smth, then post the aesthetics on my tumblr spam. We'll see. Until then, I'll see you next chapter! Let me know your predictions x.

word count: 3.5k (3588)

date: 2021-07-20

PREVIOUS ↤ TABLE OF CONTENTS ↦ SUBSEQUENT

#writeblr #fantasy #ya #romance #original story #luanawrites #thecontractess

1 note · View note

rkyuna · 5 years

Photo

⁺ 𝗠𝗡𝗘𝗧𝗚𝗟𝗢𝗕𝗔𝗟𝗔𝗨𝗗𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦❺ EPISODE TWO ━━ 𝖳𝖧𝖤𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘

● ● ● ━━━━━━━ 신유나 ⟨ 𝙋𝙍𝙊𝘽𝙇𝙀𝙈 × ARIANA GRANDE ⟩ ₊

two truths and a lie: yuna isn’t nearly as confident in her singing as she is with her dancing. yuna is thoroughly prepared to be eliminated if she fucks up this performance. yuna is ready to break under the pressure of teenage adolescence and sensitive emotions.

even yuna doesn’t know which is the lie but she pretends it isn’t option number two.

she doesn’t really remember what possessed her to put ‘singing’ as her main skill when for the last two stages she’s passed on the expectation that her dancing could lead the way. yet, here she was; scavenging through the interweb for a song that could fit her voice in a way that would let her stand above the rest rather than saturated with the wannabes.

it’s aggravating.

maybe she should switch to dancing?

━━━━━━━━━━ ● ● ●

she asks her dad for once, somehow his opinion becoming extremely valid these days with his excessive support when it came to her and her cousin. it was like he actually clocked out of work just to be around to check on her. as if that was the case but these days, it sure did seem like it.

glancing away from her laptop, cheek smushed into her fist, she stares at her father until he asks -- his own glance her way a bit more haphazard and cautious than usual. english first, because as always, even if they were in korea -- she and her father would never really get used to the change in language. at home, casual was best.

( this meant no need for formal korean, something yuna absolutely seemed to forget a good 75% of the time she was around anyone other than her dad or hyunggu )

“yes, yuna?”

she sighs, “do you think i should change my skill to dancing?”

he looks at her for a moment, as if weighing his options; yuna wasn’t a temperamental child nor did she really take to his opinions or helpful criticisms, but he also didn’t want to seem overly biased -- that was what his instagram account was for. “why do you want to change it?”

“i don’t know, it seems harder.” yuna shrugs, pulling her hand away from her face to lean into her chair more; slumping in it. while she wasn’t one to take the easy out, she already knows this, but what were the chances of her passing on if she did something she wasn’t 100% confident in.

sure, she was far more confident in her dancing -- a reason why she had initially thought she passed the last two -- it wasn’t the same with her dancing.

“i feel like i won’t pass if i just sing -- i’m not good at high notes or anything like that. and all kpop idols do high notes even if they strain the fuck out of their voice.”

his gaze steels on her before she raises her eyes and offers a sheepish grin.

“oops -- sorry, dad.”

he grunts before shaking his head, finally dropping his phone from his hand, having idly been scanning the comment sections of any and all articles he saw yuna or hyunggu’s name pop up in; even yoona’s despite her elimination, he still was happy that he could see his step-daughter get some positive limelight.

“i’ll let that slip but yuna, it’s not like you to doubt yourself like this.”

he stares at her, a solemn expression passing his features for a moment; “your mom was so much better at this,” he sighs, “-- i know you can do it, you know you can do it. you shouldn’t run from a challenge. your mom wouldn’t have let you and i’m not going to either. it’s your decision but, i know you: you have more guts than any of the other kids, you’ll be alright. stop worrying about useless things, honey.”

she stares at him, perplexed before shaking her head; a mumble of the sorts on her lips as she lays her head on crossed arms. “thanks, dad.”

━━━━━━━━━━ ● ● ●

maybe he was right.

it was useless to worry about things that couldn’t be changed -- if she had written it on her application, she should see it through the end. if this would be her downfall, so be it. at least she put her 100% into it and saw it through to the bottom of the rocks. it wasn’t like her to take the easy way out and yuna wouldn’t do that. no, her dad was right -- it wasn’t like her at all.

worrying about this wouldn’t do her any good.

so she stopped, ( easier said than done ) running her mind on three cups of caffeine each night -- far more than a girl her age should be drinking -- to find the perfect song that would fit her voice.

and while there weren’t many, she had found a mix online -- ah, those trusty mixes -- that she thought would be fine. as long as she didn’t have to belt out any mariah carey whistles, yuna had nothing to worry about. this is what she told herself.

━━━━━━━━━━ ● ● ●

they’re divided and conquered, each of them falling into line among the masses ; a mixture of three skills that each of them were to partake in and yuna finds herself aligned at the beginning. while in alphabetical order, it keeps her closer to the end of the list, she feels the anticipation build up uncomfortably in the pit of her stomach.

she’s practiced, she has. but yuna feels the doubt come at the worst time.

it’s ambitious, doing these two songs -- when she had first heard the song, she didn’t think she could do it. she could have easily been like everyone else: chose a song, practiced it and practiced it until it became as close as a copy to the original and performed. but yuna didn’t want to be a copycat of the original -- she, herself, wanted to be the original.

if she wasn’t what was the use of showing herself off so explicitly like this?

with everything already done for her, yuna couldn’t composed or rearrange to save her life: all yuna had to do was sing ( ‘with feeling,’ she could hear her old show choir director say )

this was it, wasn’t it? the moment of truth.

when her name’s called, she climbs to her feet; hair flip and all as she marches down to the stage. her smile as present as ever as she waves to the camera, a bit too excited -- she’s sure she’ll receive the screenshot from her dad if it airs -- before she makes it to center stage.

she’s bowing, this time a little more exaggerated than the first. hair all but falling in waves after her as she moves; pushing them aside when she takes the microphone and introduces herself. a wave to the camera, once more then back to the CEOs. “hello, again. i’m shin yuna, the dazzling girl from irvine. guess you can call me a diamond of some kind because i’m here to dazzle you all over again.” she winks, playing up the aegyo factor; a plus with her cute, baby-ish face. “i’m going to be singing problem by ariana grande.”

she bows once more, “please take care of me!” please, please -- please.

𝙄 𝙒𝘼𝙉𝙏 𝘠𝘖𝘜 ━━━ 𝙃𝙊𝙊 .

she stands center-stage all over again, arms crossing once the cymbals lead to the bass, body swaying each time the beat dropped before her lips mount the microphone, a smile on her face as the english words escape her lips effortlessly.

if she needed an advantage, yuna had thought -- why not do so in her mother tongue, when she needed the confidence, she was sure to tack on as many advantages as she could. her comfort in the song was more important than showing off at this point, while it was something she wanted to also show in her performance, if she couldn’t do the first well, nothing else would have mattered.

“LISTEN TO ME, HEY.”

the song, itself, while dramatically changed to properly accommodate her vocal range; yuna knew it was a challenge. it was ariana grande’s song, and while she was a vocal powerhouse, yuna was nowhere near that prowess. but what she couldn’t do with range, she wanted to show off with technique. her vocal coach back in show choir would have been proud, very much so, if she saw her now. 2 years of hard work equipped her with the strength to properly carry her voice while dancing, even though it was minimal in comparison to her past performance, yuna couldn’t help but add a little bit here and there.

especially with a track as infectious as problem, it would have been a waste to pass up.

for now, she’d have her cake and eat it too. ( ideally, the best of both worlds )

saving most of her strength for singing when she wasn’t dancing and dancing when she wasn’t singing. if she didn’t want to grow haggard while singing, she made sure to keep all the minimal and least tiresome moves to when the microphone wasn’t on her lips.

what she would never do is sing and stand there -- how could she when she had all this space?

yuna didn’t want a boring performance nor did she want any of the judges to think that that was all she had to her. no, she was going to use the space to her advantage. shin yuna was not boring.

𝗜 𝗚𝗢𝗧 𝘖𝘕𝘌 𝗟𝗘𝗦𝗦 ━━━ 𝘖𝘕𝘌 𝗟𝗘𝗦𝗦 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗕𝗟𝗘𝗠 .

when she moves into the dance part she had prepared within her two minute performance; she moves in a way that caters to the song. not too forceful, not too outright, it was a quick five second move right before the biggest note of the performance. the only one she couldn’t compromise out of the performance. while yuna was no high note junkie, she knew where her strengths lay and a high note was not one of them.

so she opts for the softer approach, and with the five seconds, and a hair flip to end it -- she takes a breath:

“I SHOULD BE WISER AND REALIZE THAT I’VE GOT --”

𝗢𝗡𝗘, 𝗧𝗪𝗢, 𝗧𝗛𝗥𝗘𝗘, 𝘍𝘖𝘜𝘙.

it’s right before the end, instead of finishing it with words, a continuation of the high note she had prepared -- she’s moving to the drop in the beat. microphone held to her lips whenever the words “ONE LESS” fall between her smiles. it’s the last stretch. the last twenty seconds to show herself and the judges that the doubt that had clouded her the past week is nothing compared to the confidence she feels in herself.

that same confidence that had allowed her to stand before them with that hell come all smirk that she ends her performance with. there was no way she was slacking off, not when the end was so close.

𝗜 𝗚𝗢𝗧 𝘖𝘕𝘌 𝗟𝗘𝗦𝗦 ━━━ 𝘖𝘕𝘌 𝗟𝗘𝗦𝗦 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗕𝗟𝗘𝗠 .

no, yuna was here to show that she would overcome it all, without a problem in sight.

#rkmga5 #rkmga5skill #it has somehow become canon that her dad is a Netizen #mentioned ・#rkkhg #rkyoona #model of ref is both of them so when one sings those are the gestures yuna is referring to #but her vocal tone is more like minju's #( 0 - 1:21 ; 2:21 - 2:53 )#at the last part she's doing kriesha's dance tho #also i hate yuna bc she ltierally made me change her song last minute and im ANNOYED #we cut out the rap bc lMFAO yuna CAN NOT rap

4 notes · View notes

girlwithglasses1245 · 5 years

Text

Um so yeah.

I got a new chromebook which is legit one of the best investments I’ve made in quite a while. One problem, I don’t remember my newer tumblr password and email I had set up for my happy new account. So I am stuck here with an older tumblr I made years upon years ago. I was browsing through some of the archive posts and ugh was I whiny little pain in the butt complaining about such stupid things. Anyways! I thought it might be kinda fun perhaps to do a survey that I did in 2013, yes 2013 oh my that seems ages ago. My plan is to have my original answer on top followed by the 2019 answer below it. Because why not? Here we go!

1: Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed? The closet must be closed! Still closed please.

2: Do you take the shampoos and conditioner bottles from hotel? Sometimes. Not as often as I used, because I honestly don’t ever use it. lol

3: Do you sleep with your sheets tucked in or out? Out? In because that’s how Dan likes it.

4: Have you ever stolen a street sign before? No. Nope.

5: Do you like to use post-it notes? Sometimes. Sure, I leave Dan random notes in the morning if I wake up first.

6: Do you cut out coupons but then never use them? I get coupons but sometimes I don't use them. Haha my above answer tells me two things I wasn’t worried about money in 2013 and I didn’t probably understand the question. So yeah, sometimes that will happen when they expire before I get the chance to use them.

7: Would you rather be attacked by a big bear or a swarm of a bees? Neither sound great so I guess a big bear sounds more interesting. I’ll agree with my 2013 answer.

8: Do you have freckles? I have some. Last I checked I am the same girl, so I have some.

9: Do you always smile for pictures? Usually. Sure, unless I am being told otherwise.

10: What is your biggest pet peeve? I have two major ones, people snapping gum and not messaging someone back. Snapping gum is still up there and people slurping soup obnoxiously.

11: Do you ever count your steps when you walk? Not really. Um not physically, but my phone does. Thanks Google Fit!

12: Have you ever peed in the woods? Nope. Still no.

13: What about pooped in the woods? Again nope. Still no lol.

14: Do you ever dance even if there’s no music playing? Yeah. Of course!

15: Do you chew your pens and pencils? Not usually, but sometimes I'll chew on a pen. Still sometimes I will chew a pen.

16: How many people have you slept with this week? Zero. One.

17: What size is your bed? Queen. Queen, but now I share it with Dan.

18: What is your Song of the week? Runaway- iio. Goodness I have no idea.

19: Is it okay for guys to wear pink? Yeah. Since when are certain colors unacceptable for certain people? I like that answer. Good job 2013 Christina. :)

20: Do you still watch cartoons? I don’t really watch a lot of TV. Nope.

21: Whats your least favorite movie? I am not really big on the Hunger Games. Still accurate or scary movies would be an accurate answer.

22: Where would you bury hidden treasure if you had some? Wait…why would I want to bury hidden treasure. Dan’s safe?

23: If you’re a girl, bra size? If you’re a guy, pants size? 34 B 32-34 B depends on the bra. lol

24: What do you dip a chicken nugget in? Plain or honey mustard. I like those previous answers, but I do sometimes like BBQ.

25: What is your favorite food? Some type of chicken with a bread coating. Chicken and dumplings from Cracker Barrel with carrots and green beans!

26: What movies could you watch over and over and still love? Love and Other Drugs, Crazy Stupid Love, Easy A, Something Borrowed. So chick flicks I guess. Crazy Stupid Love is still in my top favorite movies ever.

27: Last person you kissed/kissed you? Jeffrey. Eww I am sorry 2013 Christina that sucks. Anyways, Dan!

28: Were you ever a boy/girl scout? I was girl scout back in the day. Still a true statement.

29: Would you ever strip or pose nude in a magazine? Eh I don't know. I am no model, so no. 30: When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper? On paper? A while ago. I write Dan little notes in the mornings sometimes. Does that count? 31: Can you change the oil on a car? Nope. Still nope. 32: Ever gotten a speeding ticket? Surprisingly no. Warning, yes. lol 33: Ever ran out of gas? Close, but no. Nope!

34: Favorite kind of sandwich? Turkey and swiss with spinach toasted. Grilled cheese!

35: Best thing to eat for breakfast? French Toast or Waffles. French Toast sounds lovely.

36: What is your usual bedtime? Unpredictable. Still accurate, but now it depends on if Dan is around or not. 37: Are you lazy? More than some would think. I can be. 38: When you were a kid, what did you dress up as for Halloween? I don’t even know. Probably a princess. 39: What is your Chinese astrological sign? I believe I am a sheep. Correct. 40: Are you horny? No. Not really. 41: Do you have any magazine subscriptions? No. Yep, Cosmo. And it’s annoying they send out the following month way too early all the time. 42: Which are better legos or lincoln logs? I could care less. Still true.

43: Are you stubborn? I some ways. Kinda. 44: Who is better…Leno or Letterman? Letterman. Still true hence why Letterman is still on the air? 45: Ever watch soap operas? Sometimes Spanish ones with Rach and her roommates. Nope. 46: Are you afraid of heights? Not as much. What kinda of answer was that back then? lol. Anyways, no height fear really. 47: Do you sing in the car? All the time. Duh, gotta keep it fun. 48: Do you sing in the shower? Not really. I hum though. Still true. 49: Do you dance in the car? Yeah. That’s probably not safe… Hahaha still guilty of that. 50: Ever used a gun? Nope, I want to do it sometime though just to say I shot a gun. Hahaha 2013 would never have thought I’d say I am pretty fucking accurate with an AR-15. 51: Last time you got a portrait taken by a photographer? Does summer count? Jen took my picture. Christmas of 2015 lol. 52: Do you think musicals are cheesy? Some can be. Usually. 53: Is Christmas stressful? Not really, but this year I’ll be working the holiday season so we shall reassess. Nope. I love Christmas. 54: Ever eat a pierogi? Had to look that up. Yes, I have I think my friend Elly introduced me to them. Yeah, not my type of thing. 55: Favorite type of fruit pie? Cherry or Dutch Apple. 56: Occupations you wanted to be when you were a kid? Teacher. I don’t know anymore and I am 27. Oops. 57: Do you believe in ghosts? Eh debatable. Sure. 58: Ever have a Deja-vu feeling? Many times. I had one just the other day. Yeah I had one the other day. Wait that’s funny that was my reply before. 59: Take a vitamin daily? I take multivitamins. I still do, but currently out. lol 60: Wear slippers? Nah. Barefoot is preferred. 61: Wear a bath robe? Rarely. Unless I am super cold. Nah. 62: What do you wear to bed? Yoga pants and a t-shirt. T-shirt and panties. lol 63: First concert? Paramore. Still true.

64: Wal-Mart, Target or Kmart? Target, but Wal-Mart is closer. Target. 65: Nike or Adidas? I don’t care. Under Amour? 66: Cheetos Or Fritos? Eh…neither. Haha still good answer. 67: Peanuts or Sunflower seeds? Sunflower seeds since I can’t do peanuts. Neither.

68: Ever hear of the group Tres Bien? No? What? 69: Ever take dance lessons? I did a few times. Did I? Hmm sure okay. I did in the past. 70: Is there a profession you picture your future spouse doing? Lawyer. Business owner.

71: Can you curl your tongue? Yes. Yep! 72: Ever won a spelling bee? Never participated. Nope I am not very good at spelling complicated stuff. 73: Have you ever cried because you were so happy? It has happened on occasion. Sure. 74: Own any record albums? No. Nope. 75: Own a record player? No. Nope. 76: Regularly burn incense? No. Nope. 77: Ever been in love? Yes. Yes. 78: Who would you like to see in concert? Matchbox Twenty, Google Dolls, Drake, Justin Timberlake, The Weekend, Linkin Park, The XX, and many more. I know weird mix there. Drake? 79: What was the last concert you saw? Grad night, Paramore. Same. 80: Hot tea or cold tea? I prefer cold tea. Ice tea! 81: Tea or coffee? Coffee, but I do like tea on occasion. Coffee 99% of the time. 82: Sugar or snickerdoodles? Yummy both please. Don’t make chose. 83: Can you swim well? Eh debatable. I’ve gotten better. lol 84: Can you hold your breath without holding your nose? Yes. Yes. 85: Are you patient? Most of the time. 50-50 depends on what. 86: DJ or band, at a wedding? Either would be fine, but a live band would be awesome. DJ, Cheaper, duh lol. 87: Ever won a contest? A few times. Yep! 88: Ever have plastic surgery? I am 22 so no. Nah, I am good. 89: Which are better black or green olives? Eww no thanks. *pukes* No no no. 90: Can you knit or crochet? My mom tried teaching me how to crochet. Still wanting to learn one day either one. 91: Best room for a fireplace? A living room? Still going to go with living room. 92: Do you want to get married? I don’t know anymore, I hope so. I do, lol. 93: If married, how long have you been married? (Not applicable) Same lol 94: Who was your HS crush? Mark fucking Andrew. Ugh that’s still true. But here’s a plot twist though he married someone I know and I see his picture on FB all the time because she posts pictures of them. I am not phased anymore. So victory? For me at least. 95: Do you cry and throw a fit until you get your own way? No. But I have though before though. Haha apparently. 96: Do you have kids? No. Nope. 97: Do you want kids? I would be ok not having kids for a while. No thanks. 98: Whats your favorite color? Purple! Purple!!! 99: Do you miss anyone right now? Yeah extremely. Yes.

100. What do you hear right now? My Drake station on Pandora playing a Lil Wayne song. No Limit- G Easy ft Cardi B and A$AP Rocky

#Flashbacks #Survey #Personal #Tumblr #Life #2013 #2019

6 notes · View notes

asxszfdd · 3 years

Text

apply legjobb kutyaruha esőkabát for the 24 unit llantas 4x4 online program

These force encounters are not the singular source of traumatic event for the first responder. Often, the trauma visits in more subtle exposure to human suffering. This continuum of trauma exposure is further exacerbated by time. The Master of Engineering Science (MEngSc) degree is available as a 24 unit or a 16 unit program (depending on applicant previous qualifications). Applicants with an approved degree may apply legjobb kutyaruha esőkabát for the 24 unit llantas 4x4 online program. The 16 unit program is available to applicants with an approved 4 year degree in the same field of study. Season to taste. Toss for 5 6 minutes, or until golden and caramelised. Add remaining dried marjoram and the butter and toss well. 6 Identify hallmark traits ahead of time. It's common for luxury items to have predictable, signature traits such as a stamp that includes a registered serial number and date code, or a stamp that names the artisan and the year of construction. Check the brand's Web site before you shop so you'll know what is supposed to be there.. The salt we add during cooking and at the table makes up only a small amount of salt in our diets. Around 75% of the salt we eat comes from ready made and processed foods, such as bread, breakfast cereals, soups and baked beans. Even sweet things, such as biscuits, can have salt added to them.. "She has the most beautiful mind, body and spirit, and she smučarski kombinezon hlače just wears the worst clothing of anyone I've ever seen in my life," wrote Melissa McMullan in her nominating letter. "She spends so much time on her family and students that the last thing she thinks about is herself. If there were a real fashion police, she would have been in jail a long time ago.". There are plenty norton antivirus mac crack apps like Norton Security TABLOID but do you really need them? . 60 best free apps ANDROID 2012. \ \ \ \"In 2010 we saw the . If you feel you have experienced an allergic reaction, stop taking Disprin and inform your doctor or pharmacist immediately. Disprin should not be used by breastfeeding mothers as it may be harmful to the nursing infant. Get further advice from your doctor or pharmacist.What are the possible side effects of Disprin?Medicines and their possible side effects can affect individual people in different ways. A similar discrepancy between formal company policy and in store practices appears to exist at , based in San Francisco. Several current and recent Gap store employees interviewed by The Chronicle said their managers required them to wear clothes from the stores where they work. But a spokeswoman for the parent company of Gap, Old Navy and said employees didn't have to wear the brands. I breathed a sigh of relief as my husband and I burst out laughing. Thankfully, this remark helped us move away from the objectification of women, and on to discussing the unique bond between a woman and her gay male friends. I'm much more comfortable with that topic. The landscape reminds me of the beauty of the Norfolk Broads, only ahead of us I can see dolphins cutting through the shimmering water. Because the dolphins have no local predators, it's a good place to see them feeding on mullet and shad. Scott often drk gumicsizma sütétkék recognises the same dolphins, and a particular favourite cizme vara cu toc always comes to the boat air max 90 ultra se to see Woody. Sort of a ham radio LOL. Ham operators have to be licensed. They used to be required to know Morse code like back when Noakes took the ham course but not any more. O seu fanatismo, contudo, por carros. Ralph tem uma das colees de automveis mais raras e valiosas do mundo. So 70 carros avaliados em mais de US$ 200 milhes. I air max heard a clap of nike chanel ágynemű free run 5.0 thunder, lightning before the ray ban zonnebril thunder cheap eyeglasses that beats by dre road really bright, I in tory burch sale the michael kors bags house converse sneakers gave dazzled eyes. Then uggs canada I tiffany und co heard new balance canada someone outside michael kors outlet online shouting injured, abercrombie ran cheap jerseys out to rescue the harrods london injured. Cheap nike air max 102 essential white michael kors At that kate spade outlet time the station ikea molnig csillár gucci where four nike air max people came celine bags here ugg australia to michael kors engage in uggs on sale scientific research and testing, is one of them jeans moda 2015 donna amazon and longchamp outlet injured people to make mine. Come spring break up, a lot of cowboys east of the Rockies head west to get the blood and the spirit moving again. Calgary's Cowpuncher is headed in the same direction, but don't expect the music to match the rustic name. "We're more rock 'n' roll these days," explained Matt Olah. After a review of the case over the Christmas period, gardai concluded the death was "most likely" an accident. It has also been reported that Clarke was wearing a boiler suit when his body was found. One theory is whether Clarke was in Leixlip in relation to an attempted hit on cartel target Noel Kirwan (62).. Faber: Listening to all of you, I have come to the conclusion that we are all doomed. Don't understand the instability brought about by excessive credit growth and artificially low interest rates. In a 7,000 word article in the New York Times several months ago, entitled "How Did Economists Get It So Wrong?," Paul Krugman [the economist and Princeton professor] nowhere mentions that excessive credit growth or leverage was the cause of monetary instability and brought about the financial crisis. Remove the meat and set aside. Add your mushrooms and onions and cook until all the liquid evaporates off your vegetables and you get a nice color. Add 2 cups of wine and cook down till about half of that liquid is gone.

0 notes

prorevenge · 7 years

Text

Landlord is jealous of my income, raises my rent $500. I screw him years later for $20k.

All names have been changed. Long story:

In the late ‘90s wife and I were just married, just getting started, and we decided to DINK (“double income, no kids”) it for a few years to save up for a down payment on a house.

The dotcom bubble was still rising and I was a newly minted software developer. I had an entry-level job for a while and then got recruited to a new city and a new job that paid 3x what I was making before. It was an offer too good to pass up. I ran the numbers and it was a no-brainer: by living frugally and saving my entire salary, living off just her income, we would easily have enough in a year to put 20% down payment on a new house.

We rented an apartment in the new city that was listed for $950/mo. The landlord was a real estate agent who owned a two-bedroom condo as an investment property. Let’s call him "Hank Wazowski". Hank was a thin, gray, no-nonsense guy. He was pleasant enough, but perfunctory, dry, and had no sense of humor. He made a point of explaining that under no circumstances was he responsible for maintaining the garbage disposal and that it was NOT included in the rental agreement and he would not be responsible for fixing it were it to break. Um, ok.

He seemed slightly amused by us, a clueless, young, newlywed couple, but I could tell he wanted to rent to us because we were very obviously a safe choice as renters.

We filled out the rental agreement and the credit check, and this is where my troubles began. Hank looked hard at the credit application where I listed my job title, “Software Developer”, and my income, $75k. For a 23-year-old in his second year out of college, in the late 1990’s, this is a small fortune. Throw in my wife’s salary and we were over six figures in income, renting an apartment far beneath our means. Like I said, DINK is the way to go when starting out.

“I can’t believe how much money you make.” Hank must have said half a dozen times, muttering under his breath.

I explained we were saving to buy a house and that we were only going to stay in the apartment a year. “We might stay a few months after the term is over, would month-to-month be ok after a year?”

Hank assured us that would be fine.

We saw Hank only once during the year and he again mentioned my salary and how he couldn’t believe that’s what software developers were making. It was awkward and I gave a vague reply.

Anyway, a year later we had found a house to buy, signed all the papers, and were making plans to move. The new house wasn’t going to be ready until two months after our rental lease was up, so I called Hank to ask if we could, as discussed, simply extend the lease by two months before moving out. Hank assured me on the phone it would be no problem and he would send over an extension for us to sign. The extension arrived in the mail and it included a month-to-month clause and a $500 increase in the rent. I flipped out and called him.

“Hank, why are you increasing the rent over 50%? That’s too much! That’s more than my new mortgage is going to be!”

He was super condescending to me, “RockyMoose, it’s what the apartment goes for now. I would be losing money by renting it for less.” I tried to reason with him but it was very clear he knew we could afford the $500, had no choice in the matter, and he was going to screw us over as best he could. He got angry with me for arguing my point, and I’ll never forget his parting words:

“You don’t have to like it, RockyMoose, you just have to pay it.”

My wife and I tried to figure out a way to move out early by putting our furniture in storage for a couple months and crashing with friends, but it just wasn’t going to work out.

I swallowed my pride and wrote out the check for $1450 for the extra month. A month later I wrote a similar check, and then we moved out. I made sure the apartment was spotless before moving, but still Hank withheld $300 from our security deposit for bullshit things that were just a way for him to squeeze a few more dollars from the kids who made too much money. $100 for cleaning, sure? But $300 was obscene. In my mind, he had screwed me over for $1200 and there was nothing I could do about it.

What made is even more infuriating is that I saw the ad Hank put in the paper after we moved out and he listed the apartment for rent at only $150 more than we had been paying originally, not the grossly-inflated $500 increase. And it didn't rent. A month later I saw the same ad and he had lowered the price to $75 more than we had been paying, and I assume it got rented since the ads stopped appearing.

Fast-forward about five years. Life is good, the house is good, we have a baby, and even though the dotcom bubble has burst, I’m still employed. One day, out of the blue, I overhear one of my co-workers, Phil, a senior developer, talking to the guy working the reception desk:

“Hey, Mike, I’m expecting someone to drop off some paperwork for me. If a Hank Wazowski asks for me, tell him I’ll be right out.” I freeze and get a taste of bile in my mouth remembering how I had to write out that name on those checks all those years ago. There’s no way it’s the same guy, right? I walk over to the Phil who is still by the reception desk.

“Phil,” I say, “How do you know that name, Hank Wazowski?”

Phil explains that Hank is his real estate agent. “I bought my condo through him several years ago. I’m selling my condo now so I can buy a house. So I’m going to ask him to be my agent again. Do you know him?”

I tell Phil that I used to rent an apartment from Hank and described what he looks like. Phil confirms the description: it’s the same guy, wow small world, right? And on cue, right then the front door to the office opens and in walks Hank Wazowski. I stare in disbelief. He’s carrying a folder of papers and doesn’t recognize me.

Phil and Hank shake hands and they talk for a few moments. I stand there silently, wondering what to do. Phil finally says, “Hank, this is my friend RockyMoose, I think you may have already met?”

“Yes, hello Hank. Good to see you again. My wife and I were your tenants a few years ago on ---- Street. Remember, the software developer who rented for a year saving to buy a house? Well, this is where I work. Here. With Phil.”

Hanks eyes indicate he now remembers me, and he’s starting to put it all together. We shake hands and he says yes, of course he remembers and asks how we are doing.

“Oh we’re just fine, thanks for asking. Phil says that you’re his real estate agent. Small world, isn’t it?”

Hanks nods pleasantly. He still doesn’t remember the details of our last conversation.

I do some quick math in my head. This is the early/mid 2000’s, the real estate market is very strong and easy money for any agent. The crash of 2008 is still a few years in the future. I start to think out loud.

“Selling the condo for around $150 to 200 thousand, and you’re looking at houses in the $500 thousand range, so that’s $650 to 700 thousand in total transactions. An agent getting 3% on the sale AND the purchase is getting around $20k for his trouble. That’s a good commission for the agent, isn’t it?

Hanks eyes flash and I can tell he remembers everything about me now. Phil is surprised at my passive-aggressive tone. I am enjoying the uncomfortable silence.

Hank deflects my question, saying it’s complicated, and tells Phil to send back the papers as soon as possible. He shakes hands with Phil, looks at me, nods, and goes to leave. “It was really good to see you again, Hank.” I call behind him.

He exits the building. As the door is still shutting, I say a bit too loudly, so that Hank can hear, “Phil, don’t sign anything just yet, I have a story to tell you.”

Phil looks at me and says, “Rocky, what the hell was that all about?!” He looks pissed and confused at my behavior.

I tell Phil the whole story, the rent, the $500 increase, the security deposit, "you don't have to like it, you just have to pay it," everything. “Phil, you can’t use this guy to sell your condo and buy a house. I hate him. He’s evil. I’ll help you find another real estate agent, just use ANYONE BUT HANK!”

So the great thing about Phil is that, well, he’s a great guy. He says he’s a little surprised at my story and has always known Hank as a straightforward guy. “But I totally see him doing that to you,” he admits. “There’s no way I could use him now. What a dick!”

Then Phil’s eyes lit up a bit, “What do you want me to say when I fire him?” (I have special feelings for Phil now.)

We came up with a plan and I made sure there were some key phrases in Phil’s repertoire. We planned it all out together in advance. My only regret is that I didn’t get to see Hank’s reaction in person a day later when Phil made the following phone call while I stood behind him listening:

“Hi, Hank? It’s Phil calling. Yeah, about that. I’ve decided to get some other quotes from other agents. I’m not going to sign up with you …

[pause]

“No no, you shouldn’t give a discount. You’d be losing money if you did that . . .

[pause]

“No, this is just a decision I’ve made . . . no, it has nothing to do with RockyMoose . . .

[pause]

“Well, you don’t have to like it, Hank. You just have to accept it. Good bye.”

CLICK

And it was the greatest revenge I could have ever imagined: through a chance meeting years later, Hank got screwed out of twenty thousand dollars in easy commissions. And the best part is Hank absolutely KNEW it had EVERYTHING to do with RockyMoose!

(source) (story by RockyMoose)

#prorevenge #by RockyMoose #pro revenge #revenge stories #pro revenge stories #pro #revenge #pettyrevenge

2K notes · View notes

progressiveparty · 5 years

Text

Trump made 56 false claims last week

Trump calls women he doesn't like fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals.

President Donald Trump made 56 false claims last week, delivering his usual assortment of dishonesty about immigration, his popularity and his record.

Do you accept or reject Trump's lies?

That was down from 78 false claims the week prior and 61 false claims the week before that. Where he made the biggest numbers: Trump made 26 false claims at his campaign rally in Cincinnati, 13 more in various exchanges with the media, seven on Twitter, five in an interview with C-SPAN. Top categories: Eighteen false claims were about the economy or trade; 10 were about Trump's popularity, his crowds or others' crowds; 10 were about immigration; eight were about former President Barack Obama's record. The most egregious false claim: Support from African Americans Trump's stories are peppered with unnamed validators -- "many people" who say he's right about something, "tough guys" backstage who break down crying in his presence, a "friend" who just called him to say something dramatic. Last week, as he faced accusations of racism for his attack on Baltimore as "disgusting, rat and rodent infested" and unfit for human habitation, he turned the black community into a validator. "What I've done for African Americans, no president, I would say, has done," he told reporters, citing his criminal justice legislation, the low black unemployment rate and the criticism of Baltimore itself. "Now, I'll say this: They are so happy, because I get the calls." Though Trump does have African American supporters, all the available evidence suggests African American voters are overwhelmingly unhappy with him. In one poll the week before last, he had a 6% approval rating with black voters; 80% of them said he is racist. We can't fact-check the existence of phone calls to him. We can note that he has invented phone calls before. The most revealing false claim: A Veterans Choice fable Trump has made a concerted effort to erase and distort Obama's record. He has claimed more than 75 times as President that he was the one who got the Veterans Choice health care program passed, though Obama signed it into law in 2014. Most of the time Trump talks about Veterans Choice, he simply asserts that he was the one responsible for doing what previous presidents couldn't. Sometimes, like at his rally last week, he invents an entire elaborate story. He said he was thinking about the problem of veterans' health care "during the campaign," and he approached "experts" with a "great idea" he thought made him "the smartest guy": Veterans, he had decided, should be allowed to see private doctors if they are facing long waits in the VA system. (Note: That is what the Obama program already allowed them to do.) As it turned out, he said, the "experts" had something remarkable to tell him: They had this same idea long before, but could never get it implemented. "Sir," Trump said the experts told him, "we've known about it for about 40 years, but we've never been able." Note the "sir," one of the most surefire signs Trump is making something up. The most absurd false claim: Hot air on wind When Trump uses his campaign rallies to rile up his supporters over issues like immigration, we say he is throwing them red meat. We need a phrase for when he uses his rallies to rant about a personal grievance that his supporters don't seem to be interested in at all. Green meat? One such issue is wind turbines, a longtime bugbear for him. Again and again, Trump has returned to the subject even as the people in his crowds have demonstrated little apparent excitement. At the rally last week, he did not repeat his infamous false claim that wind turbines cause cancer. He did, however, claim that wind turbines being built near your house means your house becomes "practically worthless." Not true, studies show. Here is this week's full list of 56: Crowds and popularity Empty seats "...I've never had an empty seat. ... I don't think we've had an empty seat. I don't think you've seen an empty seat, with thousands of people outside. ... We'll have a 22,000-seat arena, including like a basketball -- an NBA -- arena, or even bigger stadiums, we've never had an empty seat." -- July 30 interview with C-SPAN "I'm going to Cincinnati. The arena is a very large one. And we've sold it out. We could sell it out probably 10 times, from what I hear. The applications for seats, as you know -- never had an empty seat. ..." -- August 1 exchange with reporters Facts First: There have been empty seats at various Trump events, including a rally in Greenville, North Carolina, just two weeks prior to these remarks. Bloomberg News reporter Josh Wingrove tweeted a photo of what he described as a "smattering" of empty seats in the almost-full 8,000-capacity venue in Greenville. The Dallas News said of Trump's October 18 rally in Houston: "Many hundreds of seats were empty, including all of the boxes on both tiers of the mezzanine." At Trump's Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, rally in April 2017, Philadelphia Inquirer journalist Jonathan Tamari tweeted a photo of rows of empty seats in the upper deck. Support among religious voters When Trump was asked about recent criticism from Wilton Gregory, archbishop of Washington, who said the President's recent remarks had "deepened divisions and diminished our national life," he said he was unaware of the archbishop's remarks but that he is highly popular with "the church." He continued, "The church has loved me and I love them. You know, we've got about 84% of the vote. And the churches love Donald Trump and I love them." -- August 1 exchange with reporters Facts First: Trump did not get anywhere close to 84% of the vote from Catholics in the 2016 election. Exit polls had him winning 50% of the Catholic vote to Hillary Clinton's 46%. Data from the American National Election Study had Clinton winning 48% to Trump's 45%. Trump might have been referring imprecisely to his level of support from white evangelical Christians. Exit polls found 80% of that particular group voted for Trump. Support among African Americans "What I've done for African Americans, no president, I would say, has done. Now, I'll say this: They are so happy, because I get the calls." And: "The African American people have been calling the White House. They have never been so happy as what a president has done." -- July 30 exchange with reporters Facts First: African Americans are overwhelmingly unhappy with Trump's job performance, polls have consistently shown. Trump began talking negatively about Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings and Baltimore in a series of tweets on July 27. In a Quinnipiac University poll conducted from July 25 to July 28 -- two days before the tweets, the day of the tweets and one day after the tweets -- Trump had a 6% approval rating and 84% disapproval rating with black voters. Eighty percent of black voters said Trump is racist, while just 11% said he is not. A Fox News poll conducted from July 21 to July 23 had Trump at 75% disapproval among black registered voters, with 22% approval. In a Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted June 28 to July 1, 81% of African Americans said they disapproved; 18% approved. Both of those approval numbers were substantially better than the one in the new Quinnipiac poll, but still: On the whole, large majorities of African Americans were displeased with him. 'Morning Joe' "Wow! Morning Joe & Psycho ratings have really crashed. Very small audience. People are tired of hearing Fake News delivered with an anger that is not to be believed. Sad, when the show was sane, they helped get me elected. Thanks! Was on all the time. Lost all of its juice!" -- July 30 tweet Facts First: The ratings for the MSNBC show "Morning Joe" have not "crashed." The show's viewership in the second quarter of 2019 was nearly identical to its viewership in the second quarter of 2018 and the second quarter of 2017 -- and significantly higher than its ratings in the second quarter of 2016, during the presidential election. "Morning Joe" averaged 1.03 million viewers in the second quarter of this year. That was down very slightly from 1.06 million viewers in the same quarter in 2018 and up very slightly from 997,000 viewers in the same quarter in 2017. All of these figures were higher than the 608,000 viewers "Morning Joe" averaged in the second quarter of 2016. Joe Biden's crowd size "I saw Biden's opening, where he couldn't get 150 people to an opening in a little basketball, high school gymnasium." -- July 30 interview with C-SPAN Facts First: About 600 people attended Biden's first speech after he announced his candidacy -- which was held at a union hall, not a high school gymnasium. Trump had previously claimed that Biden's launch event was attended by 150 people, not the reported 600. This time, the President claimed it was not even 150. The Atlantic reported that journalists occupied 100 of the 600 spots at the hall in Pittsburgh, but that is still 500 non-journalists. Biden did hold an event at a community center gym in South Carolina that same week, but he drew a crowd of 700, The New York Times reported. The crowd in Cincinnati "l'll tell you what: This is some crowd, some turnout. We've sold tens of thousands of tickets, and you know, at the sale prices, we keep it nice and low, but keep it nice and low." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnat Facts First: Tickets to Trump's rallies are not "sold" by the campaign. Contrary to Trump's suggestion that people had paid to attend this rally, attendance was, as always, free. It's possible Trump was making a joke, but that wasn't clear. The 2016 election "I say it all the time: never happened before. There's never been a movement like this. They've had movements, they never went -- they won a state, they did well in a state. We won 32 states, there's never been anything like it." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: Trump won 30 states, not 32. Also, this was far from a historic number: Richard Nixon in 1972 and Ronald Reagan in 1984 each won 49 states; James Monroe won every statein the uncontested election of 1820. "There have been 45 presidential elections in which the winning candidate won a larger share of the electoral vote," The New York Times reported. Ohio in 2016 "We ended up winning Ohio by close to 9 points, which is unheard-of. ..." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: Trump exaggerated very slightly. He won 51.7% to 43.6%, a margin of just over 8 points. That was the biggest margin in Ohio since George H.W. Bush's 11-point win in 1988, but not an unprecedented margin for the state. Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon all won the state by 20 points or more. Florida in 2016 "So we have a great governor in the state of Florida. Ron DeSantis. Calls me up -- doing a great job, Ron DeSantis. He was at 3 and he went to 70. That's a pretty good increase." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: DeSantis did experience a spike in support after Trump endorsed him, but he never came close to 70% in the polls. He won the Republican primary with 56.5% of the vote. We also could not find any public polls in which DeSantis was as low as 3%, though he was indeed polling poorly before Trump expressed support for him in December 2017 and before the President issued a "full" endorsement in June 2018. He was at 17% in a Fox News poll just before the endorsement. Immigration Immigration judges Talking about immigration, Trump said, "We're the only country in the world, or just about, where people come in, Bill, they come in and they get a trial, so we hire Perry Mason. And it's a big deal. And the trial we say, 'Come back in four years.' It is so crazy. But we're the -- nobody else has judges. They come in -- other countries, they come and they say, 'Sorry, you have to get out.' And in this country they come in, it's 'Welcome to litigation.' " -- August 1 interview with Bill Cunningham of 700WLW Cincinnati Facts First: The US is far from the only country to grant asylum claimants the right to a legal process. In Canada, for example, refugee claimants who pass an initial eligibility test are given hearings before a tribunal called the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada; if their applications are rejected by the board, they have the right to seek reviews by the Federal Court of Canada. In Germany, claimants who are rejected by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees also have the right to file appeals in court. "This statement is patently false," James Hathaway, law professor and director of the program in refugee and asylum law at the University of Michigan, said in an email in response to a previous version of Trump's claim. "It is completely routine in other countries that, like the U.S., have signed the UN refugee treaties for asylum-seekers to have access to the domestic legal system to make a protection claim (and to be allowed in while the claim is pending)." If Trump was talking about undocumented immigrants who do not make asylum claims, it is not true that these people are welcomed in and granted a trial years down the road. Under a system of "expedited removal," people who are apprehended within 100 miles of a land border and within 14 days of arrival can be quickly deported without seeing a judge. (The Trump administration announced in July that it plans to expand expedited removal to include undocumented immigrants anywhere in the country who can't prove they have been in the US continuously for two years or more.) Democrats and the border "Despite the Democrats wanting very unsafe Open Borders. ..." -- July 30 tweet "But what we have to do is fix the loopholes, and the Democrats don't want. The reason is the Democrats want open borders." -- July 31 exchange with reporters "The greatest betrayal committed by the Democrats is their support for open borders. And these open borders would overwhelm schools and hospitals, drain public services and flood communities with poisonous drugs." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati "But I watched (the Democratic debates) and I guess it's probably four or five (contenders). It's down to four or five. I can't imagine somebody else coming up. But I don't think it's what our country represents, number one. And when you look at open borders, how about the open borders, where everybody can just come in. ... But I'm just watching, and it's incredible to think people come up -- many of these people are not good people. They're convicted of lots of bad crimes, and they want open borders where they just flow into our country." -- August 1 interview with Bill Cunningham of 700WLW Cincinnati Facts First: Some Democrats, including presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Julián Castro, have advocated a significant loosening of immigration law, including a decriminalization of the act of illegally crossing the border. But none of them have proposed literally opening the border to unrestricted migration. During the Trump era, Democrats have voted for billions of dollars' worth of fencing and other border security measures. In 2018, Democratic leaders offered Trump $25 billion for border security in exchange for a path to citizenship for the "Dreamers," young undocumented immigrants brought to the US illegally as children. Family separation "The cages for kids were built by the Obama Administration in 2014. He had the policy of child separation. I ended it even as I realized that more families would then come to the Border! @CNN" -- July 31 tweet Facts First: Trump was correct that Obama's administration built chain-link "cages" to detain migrants. But Trump did not inherit an Obama policy of routinely separating migrant children from their parents. Separations were rare under Obama; Trump made them standard. In March 2017, John Kelly, then the secretary of homeland security, told CNN that he was thinking about implementing a separation program "to deter more movement along this terribly dangerous network." In April 2018, Jeff Sessions, then the attorney general, announced a new "zero tolerance" policy in which everybody caught crossing the border illegally would be criminally prosecuted -- a change he explicitly noted would result in regular separations. Separations did sometimes occur under Obama, but they were non-routine and much less frequent, according to immigration experts and former Obama officials. They occurred in exceptional cases, such as those where the parent was being criminally prosecuted for carrying drugs across the border or other serious crimes aside from simple illegal crossing, those where human trafficking was suspected and those where the authorities could not confirm the connection between the child and the adult. It is technically true that Trump is the one who ended the separation policy: In June 2018, he signed an executive order to detain families together. But he was ending his own policy, not Obama's, and he signed the order only after a furious public outcry. The wall "We're building the wall faster and better than ever." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati "... Crossings are way down and the Wall is being built). Even with zero Dem help, Border getting strong!" -- July 29 tweet Facts First: Nothing resembling the wall Trump campaigned on has been built at any speed. Zero additional miles of border barriers had been erected as of mid-June. About 50 miles have been built over his two-and-a-half years in office, but all of them are replacement barriers rather than additional miles. According to Customs and Border Protection, 47 miles "of new border barriers in place of dilapidated design" had been completed as of June 14. The Washington Examiner reported July 20 that the total was up to 51 miles of such replacement barriers, but that no additional miles had been built. (Customs and Border Protection did not respond to our request for updated information in the wake of the Examiner story.) Trump has started arguing since this spring that replacement fencing should be counted by the media as his "wall," since he is replacing ineffective old barriers with effective modern ones. This is subjective, but we think it's fair to focus on the new barriers he promised during his campaign. Lottery system "We're replacing random migration and we're replacing the lottery system. How about the lottery system? How about lotteries? This was Chuck Schumer: You put the name in a basket. The country puts the name in the basket. And you pick people out of the lottery. 'Well, let's see, this one's a murderer. This one robbed four banks, this one ... I'd better not say ... this one, another murderer, ladies and gentlemen, another murderer.' " -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: Almost everything Trump said here was inaccurate. Foreign countries don't enter people into the green card lottery conducted by the State Department, let alone deliberately enter their criminals and problem citizens. Individuals enter on their own because they want to immigrate. The people whose names are selected are subjected to an extensive vetting process that includes a criminal background check. Court hearings "It's time for Democrats to end sanctuary cities, end catch and release. You know what you do: You catch 'em and then you release 'em and you say, 'Would you please report back in four years from now?' But only 2% come back." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: While it's unclear what subset of migrants Trump was referring to, the majority of migrants appear in court. In 2017, 89% of asylum seekers appeared in court to receive decisions on their cases. Among all kinds of migrants, 72% appeared in court. Foreign affairs China and nuclear arms "But I will say this: With Russia, if we could get a pact where they reduce and we reduce nuclear, that would be a great thing for the world. And I do believe — I do believe that will happen. We've — we have discussed it. I've also discussed it with China. I've discussed it with President Putin. I've also discussed it with China. And I will tell you, China was very, very excited about talking about it, and so is Russia. So I think we'll have a deal at some point." -- August 2 exchange with reporters Facts First: We don't know what a Chinese official might have said to Trump in private, but China is not "excited" about the prospect of an arms control agreement with the United States. After Trump first suggested that China wanted to participate in a trilateral deal with the US and Russia, a spokesperson for the Chinese government said: "We oppose any country's attempt to make an issue out of China on arms control and will not participate in any negotiation for a trilateral nuclear disarmament agreement." Kingston Reif, director for disarmament and threat reduction policy at the Arms Control Association, noted that two days before Trump's new remark, Zhou Bo, a senior colonel in China's People's Liberation Army, published an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal in which he wrote, "To Chinese ears, Mr. Trump's claims make no sense. Between them, the U.S. and Russia possess 90% of the world's nuclear weapons. China has fewer nuclear warheads (290) than France (300), according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. No wonder China's Ministry of National Defense essentially laughed at the idea of a three-way deal on arms control involving the U.S. and Russia." Reif told CNN: "The Chinese reaction is not surprising. China, which is estimated to possess a total of about 300 nuclear warheads, has never been party to any agreement limiting the size and configuration of its nuclear arsenal. Beijing is highly unlikely to engage in any such talks until the United States and Russia further cut their far larger arsenals, estimated at over 6,000 warheads each." The European Union "We are competing with other countries that know how to play the game against the U.S. That's actually why the E.U. was formed. ..." -- July 29 tweet Facts First: Competing with the United States economically was not a key reason for the formation of the European Union. "The President's claims are preposterous. The European Communities (forerunner of the EU) were formed in the 1950s as part of a joint US-Western European plan to stabilize and secure Western Europe and promote prosperity, by means of trade liberalization and economic growth, throughout the shared transatlantic space," Desmond Dinan, a public policy professor at George Mason University who is an expert in the history of European integration, said in response to a previous version of this claim. US presidents have consistently supported European integration efforts. "The EU was launched in 1993, on the shoulders of the European Communities, to promote peace and prosperity in the post-Cold War era, an era also of rapid globalization. American officials may have had their doubts about the feasibility of monetary union, and about the possibility of a Common (European) Security and Defense Policy, but the US Administration strongly supported further European integration in the 1990s," Dinan said. The war in Afghanistan "With respect to Afghanistan, we've made a lot of progress. We're talking, but we've also made a lot of progress. We're reducing it. We've been there for 19 years. " -- August 2 exchange with reporters Facts First: This was a small exaggeration. The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 -- less than 18 years ago, though Trump habitually says "19 years." Iran "To protect America's security I withdrew the United States from the horrible Iran nuclear deal, a horrible stupid deal. We gave Iran $150 billion." Trump went on to claim that the US also gave Iran $1.8 billion "in cash." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: The second figure is roughly correct, but the first is exaggerated. The Iran nuclear deal allowed the country to access tens of billions in its own assets that had been frozen in foreign financial institutions because of sanctions; experts say the total was significantly lower than $150 billion. Trump did not invent the $150 billion figure out of thin air: Obama himself mused in a 2015 interview about Iran having "$150 billion parked outside the country." But experts on Iran policy, and Obama's own administration, said that the quantity of assets the agreement actually made available to Iran was much lower. In 2015, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew put the number at $56 billion. PolitiFact reported that Garbis Iradian, chief economist at the Institute of International Finance, put it at about $60 billion. Adam Szubin, a senior Treasury Department official, testified to Congress in 2015 that the "usable liquid assets" would total "a little more than $50 billion." The rest of Iran's foreign assets, he said, were either tied up in "illiquid" projects "that cannot be monetized quickly, if at all, or are composed of outstanding loans to Iranian entities that cannot repay them." As Trump regularly notes, the Obama administration did send Iran $1.7 billion to settle a decades-old dispute over a purchase of US military goods Iran made before its government was overthrown in the Islamic Revolution of 1979. The Russia investigation "Treason" "Such a great victory in court yesterday on the Russian Hoax, the greatest political scam in the history of our Country. TREASON! Hopefully, the Attorney Generel of the United States, and all of those working with him, will find out, in great detail, what happened. NEVER AGAIN!!!!" -- July 31 tweet Facts First: Nothing about the Russia investigation comes close to meeting the definition of treason. Under the Constitution, treason is narrowly defined: "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort." Special counsel Robert Mueller was appointed and supervised by a Republican whom Trump appointed as deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein. There is no evidence of any behavior that could even possibly qualify as treason. Mueller and obstruction "Well, I watched Mueller. I'm not sure Mueller knows what's going on, if you want to know the truth. But all I do know is he said, 'No collusion with us. No collusion,' and ultimately 'no obstruction,' because it led to no obstruction by a very smart group of people, including our attorney general. " -- August 1 exchange with reporters Facts First: Mueller's report did not say "no obstruction" in any way. Mueller laid out a case that Trump may have committed obstruction, but he explained that he would abide by a Justice Department policy that holds that a sitting president cannot be indicted. "... If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him," the report said. As Trump said, Attorney General William Barr then determined that the evidence laid out by Mueller was "not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense." So Trump was basically correct when he described what Barr concluded -- but he was incorrect in suggesting that Mueller himself had said "no obstruction." Mueller also did not use the words "no collusion"; his report explained that he was investigating the issue of conspiracy, since collusion does not have a precise legal meaning. With that said, "no collusion" is a much fairer paraphrase of Mueller's findings than "no obstruction" is. The economy and trade Steel plants before the tariffs After listing recent plant investments by American steel companies, Trump said, "And this was unthinkable, because four years ago, steel plants were closing, they weren't expanding and they weren't building." Facts First: While some steel plants were closing, being idled or otherwise doing poorly four years ago, some other plants were being built or expanding at the time. Investment was not "unthinkable." A simple Google search brings up numerous 2015 announcements about planned investments in steel plants. For example, Steel Dynamics announced a $100 million expansion at a mill in Mississippi. Commercial Metals announced a $250 million investment to build a micro-mill in Oklahoma. Nucor and a partner announced a $75 million investment in improvements at a mill in Arkansas. Ferrous CAL announced a $53 million investment in a Michigan plant to make steel for automotive companies. There were also multiple stories about US Steel and other companies idling plants and laying off workers at the time. But it's not true that it was "unthinkable" four years ago for plants to be built or expanded. Steel companies before the tariffs "... but they were dumping tremendous quantities of steel, and what was happening is United States Steel and all of our companies were going virtually out of business, and I stopped it. I put on a 25% tariff." Facts First: It is not true that "all" American steel companies were "going virtually out of business" before Trump imposed his steel tariffs last year. Though US Steel had significantly declined from its heyday and had faltered for much of the decade, it had earned a profit in 2017. Other American steel companies, notably Nucor, were thriving before the tariffs. US Steel earned $387 million in 2017, the year before Trump imposed the tariffs. The company had struggled so badly in the years prior that it was dropped in 2014 from the S&P 500 stock index, but it was not on the verge of quickly vanishing before the tariffs came into effect. Other steelmakers were faring much better than US Steel. Nucor, for example, reported consolidated net earnings of $1.3 billion for 2017 and $796 million for 2016. Steel Dynamics earned $813 million in 2017 and $382 million in 2016. Bloomberg reported in an October 2018 fact check: "In fact, US steelmakers Nucor Corp. and Steel Dynamics Inc. were two of the healthiest commodity companies in the world before Trump took office." Unemployment, part 1 "We need good people. We're down to 3.5% unemployment." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: The unemployment rate for June was 3.7%. The rate for July, released the morning after the rally, was unchanged, holding at 3.7%, well above the record 2.5% set in 1953. The rate has not hit 3.5% at any point in Trump's presidency. It was 3.6% in April and May. So Trump was close, but this is not a figure that is usually rounded to the nearest half-point. Unemployment, part 2 "Unemployment has reached the lowest rate in over half a century." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: This was close to true, but Trump was exaggerating. The unemployment rate over this spring and summer -- 3.7% each month in July and June, 3.6% each month in May and April -- has been the lowest since December 1969, slightly less than 50 years ago. We might be inclined to ignore this one if it seemed like a one-time slip, but it was not. Trump, a serial exaggerator, habitually turns "almost" into "over" and "more than." Employment in Ohio "One hundred and twenty three thousand more Ohio workers are employed today than when I was elected." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: Trump was exaggerating. As of the most recent jobs numbers at the time Trump spoke, for June, the increase from the month of Trump's election was 77,600 people. Who is paying for tariffs on Chinese products "We're taking in billions and billions of dollars from China in the form of tariffs. Our people are not paying for it." -- July 30 exchange with reporters "And it's been proven that our people are not paying for those tariffs." And: "They're paying for these tariffs; we're not." -- August 1 exchange with reporters "And don't let them tell you -- the fact is, China devalues their currency. They pour money into their system, they pour it in and because they do that you're not paying for those tariffs, China's paying for those tariffs." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati "The tariffs are not being paid for by our people; it's being paid for by China because of devaluation and because they're pumping money in." -- August 2 exchange with reporters Facts First: American importers make the actual tariff payments, and economic studies have found that Americans, not people and companies in China, have borne most of the cost. A March paper from economists at Columbia, Princeton and the New York Federal Reserve found that the "full incidence" of Trump's tariffs has fallen on domestic companies and consumers -- costing them $3 billion a month by the end of 2018. The paper also found that the tariffs led to a reduction in US income, by $1.4 billion a month. A separate academic paper also found that the tariffs led to higher consumer prices. It estimated that the tariffs will result in a $7.8 billion-per-year decline in income. The White House's Economic Report of the President also acknowledged that American consumers do pay some of the cost of these tariffs. Domestic producers, according to the report, benefit from price increases from the tariffs, but "offsetting these benefits are the costs paid by consumers in the form of higher prices and reduced consumption." Some Chinese suppliers might take on some of the burden of the tariff by reducing their prices to maintain a market in the United States, but these studies show that the burden heavily falls on US consumers and companies. The history of tariffs on China "Remember this: Our country is taking in billions and billions of dollars from China. We never took in 10 cents from China." -- August 2 exchange with reporters Facts First: The US government has been charging tariffs on imported Chinese goods for more than two centuries, and it took in hefty sums from such tariffs long before Trump's own tariffs. (Again, it is US importers, not China, who have paid these tariffs.) The Treasury received $14 billion from tariffs on China in 2014, to look at one pre-Trump year. Highest agricultural spending by China "And I will say that the farmers are very grateful. The most they've ever spent on agricultural product is $16 billion. So when they pulled out, I took just a small part of the money that China is paying us, and I gave it toward the farmers and the farmers are very happy." -- July 30 exchange with reporters Facts First: Sixteen billion dollars is not the most China has ever spent on US agricultural products in a year. As we noted above, studies have found that Americans, not China, are bearing the majority of the cost of the tariffs. And Trump's aid to affected farmers has required much more than "a small part" of the tariff revenue. China spent a record $29.6 billion on US agricultural products in 2014, according to government figures. The New York Times reported July 15 that Trump's tariffs on China had generated about $21 billion as of July 10. As Trump noted later last week, he has promised a total of $28 billion in aid to farmers over the last two years -- so the tariff revenue so far does not even cover the cost of his pledge. Baltimore Baltimore and corruption "What Elijah Cummings should do is he should take his Oversight Committee, bring them down to Baltimore, and invest all of it, and really study the billions and billions of dollars that's been stolen. It's been wasted; it's been stolen." And: "But the people of Baltimore are very thankful — they have let us know by the thousands of people — because of the fact that finally somebody is pointing out how corrupt Baltimore is, how billions and billions of dollars have been stolen." -- July 30 exchange with reporters Facts First: Though Baltimore has had a series of corruption scandals in recent years, there is no evidence that anywhere near "billions and billions" has been "stolen." We can't definitively fact-check Trump's claim that billions have been "wasted"; he is entitled to his opinion on the effectiveness of spending. But an allegation of billions in actual theft requires proof, and Trump has not provided any. "He has no idea what he's talking about," said Matthew Crenson, professor emeritus of political science at Johns Hopkins University and a scholar of Baltimore's political history. "I'd like to see those billions and billions." Corruption convictions or cases involving alleged corruption in Baltimore have tended to involve sums of money much smaller than "billions." In 2009, Mayor Sheila Dixon was convicted of stealing about $1,500 worth of gift cards meant for low-income residents. Mayor Catherine Pugh resigned in May of this year over a scandal involving payments from the University of Maryland Medical System. Pugh, who sat on the nonprofit company's board of directors, received $500,000 for 100,000 copies of a children's book she wrote. (She called the deal a "regrettable mistake.") Baltimore's economy "Baltimore's numbers are the worst in the United States on Crime and the Economy. Billions of dollars have been pumped in over the years, but to no avail. The money was stolen or wasted. Ask Elijah Cummings where it went. He should investigate himself with his Oversight Committee!" -- July 29 tweet Facts First: Baltimore does not have the worst economic numbers in the United States, though it does rank poorly by several measures. Baltimore had the fourth-worst unemployment rate of major cities in 2018, but its 5.7% rate was substantially better than that of last-place Detroit, which was at 9.0%. In 2017, the Baltimore metropolitan area (which includes more than the city of Baltimore, on which Trump was focusing his attacks) ranked 19th in the country in gross domestic product out of 383 areas studied. The city of Baltimore had a 22.4% poverty rate over the 2013-2017 period, well ahead of such cities as Detroit (37.9%), Bloomington, Indiana (37.5%), and Laredo, Texas (30.6%). Baltimore did have the highest homicide rate of any major city in 2017, so Trump was accurate in his claim about crime. Obama's record Obama and energy "The previous administration tried to shut down American energy..." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: Obama did encourage the use of renewable energy sources rather than fossil fuels, but he didn't try to "shut down" fossil fuel production -- which increased significantly during his tenure. For example, field production of crude oil increased in each of Obama's first seven years in office before declining in his last year, reversing a steady decline that had begun in the mid-1980s. CNN reported in 2015: "The greatest oil boom in this nation's history has occurred during the tenure of self-proclaimed environmentalist Barack Obama." Obama also presided over a significant increase in natural gas production, which hit a record high in 2015 before declining in 2016. In his 2013 State of the Union address, Obama called for the US to go "all in on clean energy," but he immediately added, "Now, in the meantime, the natural gas boom has led to cleaner power and greater energy independence. We need to encourage that. And that's why my administration will keep cutting red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits. That's got to be part of an all-of-the-above plan." Coal Trump said the Obama administration tried to end the use of "American, clean, beautiful coal." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: Obama did try to reduce the use of coal -- but nothing about coal is "clean." "Clean coal" is an industry term for particular technologies that attempt to reduce the many environmental harms caused by coal, a particularly dirty source of power. The term is not meant to be used to broadly describe coal itself, though that is what Trump generally does. Manufacturing While criticizing the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, from which he withdrew the US, Trump claimed Obama had said that "you can't produce manufacturing jobs anymore in the United States." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati "President Obama said that manufacturing jobs are gone." -- August 1 interview with Bill Cunningham of 700WLW Cincinnati Facts First: Obama didn't say you can't produce manufacturing jobs in the United States. At a town hall event on PBS in 2016, he said some manufacturing jobs were gone for good, in part because of automation, but he boasted of how many were being created and his administration's investment in new technologies to attempt to create new manufacturing sectors. Obama mocked Trump for not specifying how he would bring back the jobs that had been lost to other countries. But Obama was not saying that it was impossible to produce manufacturing jobs at all. He said: "Well, in fact, we've seen more manufacturing jobs created since I've been President than any time since the 1990s. That's a fact. And you know, if you look at just the auto industry as an example, they've had record sales and they've hired back more people over the last five years than they have for a very long, long time. We actually make more stuff, have a bigger manufacturing base today than we've had in most of our history." His tweet about Obama Talking about his tweeting habits, Trump said, "I sent the one about the 'wiretapping' in quotes, and that turned out to be true. Remember the big deal that was? I heard like about a minute after I sent that, I was called by my people, 'Sir, did you say --' I said, 'Yeah, I did, what's the big deal?' And the reason it was such a big deal is it turned out to be true." -- July 30 interview with C-SPAN Facts First: Trump's tweet about Obama allegedly wiretapping his phones has not been proved true. Trump was referring to the 2017 tweet in which he said, "Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my 'wires tapped' in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!" (He repeated the allegation in additional tweets the same day, saying, for example, "I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!") There is still no evidence that Trump was wiretapped, let alone that Obama ordered a wiretap of Trump. The Justice Department said in a 2017 court filing that there are no records related to wiretaps like the ones Trump described. Then-FBI Director James Comey told Congress in 2017 that "we have no information to support those tweets." Paul Manafort, who served as Trump's campaign chairman, was wiretapped before and after the election, CNN has reported, and Manafort had a residence in Trump Tower. But a wiretap of someone living in Trump's apartment building is not the same as a wiretap of Trump himself. And there remains no public evidence that Obama was personally involved even in the Manafort wiretaps. Wind turbines "The previous administration, they liked windmills. You know windmills: If a windmill is within 2 miles of your house, your house is practically worthless." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: While some homes might fall in value when turbines are erected close by, studies in the US have not found that homes generally become anywhere close to "practically worthless" in such cases -- and some have found no significant decline at all. A 2016 study published in the Journal of Real Estate Research, for example, analyzed "more than 122,000 home sales, between 1998 and 2012, that occurred near (within 10 miles) 41 turbines in densely populated Massachusetts communities." The study found "no unique impact on the rate of home sales near wind turbines." Judicial vacancies Trump said of vacancies on federal courts: "And I came in, I had 148 openings. I said -- you're supposed to have none. I said, 'How many do we have?' '148.' I said, 'You've got to be kidding.' " -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: Trump did not enter office with 148 judicial vacancies, and it is not normal for incoming presidents to be told they have "none." Like Trump, his predecessors entered office with dozens of vacancies. According to Russell Wheeler, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution who tracks judicial appointments, there were 103 vacancies on district and appeals courts on Jan. 1, 2017, just before Trump took office; 53 vacancies on Jan. 1, 2009, just before Barack Obama took office; 80 vacancies on Jan. 1, 2001, just before George W. Bush took office; 107 vacancies on Jan. 1, 1993, just before Bill Clinton took office. So Trump had the most judges to appoint since Clinton, but, clearly, other presidents also had appointing to do. Promises and accomplishments Veterans Choice "We passed VA Choice and VA Accountability on behalf of our great veterans. They've been trying to pass VA Choice for four decades. They couldn't get it done, we got it done, we got it." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati "But with all of the things that we've got -- I mean think of VA Choice, think of all of the things that we've got, you would think that that would make people happy." -- July 30 interview with C-SPAN Facts First: Trump did not get the Veterans Choice program passed, nor had there been an unsuccessful 40-year effort to get it passed. The program was signed into law by Obama in 2014. In 2018, Trump signed the VA MISSION Act, which expanded and changed the Choice program. What Veterans Choice does "Trump contrasted the Choice program with the previous situation, in which he noted that veterans had to wait for health care for "three, four, five, six days, for three weeks, for five weeks." Trump suggested that this is no longer the case, saying that he had the idea to "let them go outside, go to a private doctor. We'll pay the bill, they'll be fixed up all perfect and they can do it immediately.'" -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: Neither the Obama version nor the Trump version of this program allows veterans to avoid waiting days or weeks to see a VA doctor. At present, most veterans can get reimbursed for private care only if they are facing waits of more than 20 days at the VA. Under the current version of the program, there is an exception to the 20-day rule for people who live more than a 30-minute drive from a VA facility. But people who live within a 30-minute zone are still forced to stay within the VA system if they are facing waits of just under three weeks. As we noted in the previous fact check, the program was not Trump's idea. It was created in 2014 under Obama. Firing people at the VA "You couldn't fire anybody. If they were treating our vets badly, you couldn't fire him for anything. People could steal, they could be sadistic to our vets. ... You couldn't fire anybody for almost anything." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: While Trump might have been exaggerating here for effect, it's not true that "you couldn't fire anybody" prior to the Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act he signed into law in 2017. The VA fired on average approximately 2,300 employees annually from 2005 to 2016, based on data collected by the Office of Personnel Management. However, the Clarion-Ledger newspaper in Mississippi did find several instances where VA employees who were registered sex offenders or had been indicted for killing patients, for example, retained their jobs. The legislation Trump signed simplified and expedited the process of terminating VA employees. Confirmed judges "You know we've been doing very well in the courts, by the way. ... We've been winning a lot of cases, a lot of cases, we really have. We really have been. You know, we've now appointed 148, think of this, federal judges, 148." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: This was a slight exaggeration. There were 144 judges confirmed during the Trump presidency as of the day Trump made this statement, said Russell Wheeler, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution who tracks judicial appointments. It was 99 district court judges, 43 appeals court judges and two Supreme Court justices, Wheeler said. Debt and spending Asked about the increase in debt during his tenure, and told that spending under his watch has been higher than spending under Obama, Trump said, "Sure, but the difference is, he wasn't building up the military. The military was getting depleted. I have to build it up, and I have to build it up from both Bush and from Obama, because with Bush, you know we were in these wars all over the place, and with Obama the same thing, they just never ended." -- July 30 interview with C-SPAN Facts First: Military spending is not the primary contributor to the increase in debt under Trump. According to a July analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, legislation signed by Trump will produce a $4.1 trillion increase in the debt between 2017 and 2029. Of that $4.1 trillion, senior vice president Marc Goldwein said, approximately a quarter is attributable to the increase in military spending. Trump's tax cuts are responsible for a much bigger share of the $4.1 trillion: about $1.8 trillion. "There's been across-the board-increases in the deficit, and defense is certainly a piece of it. But to use it as an excuse for the other three-quarters doesn't make a lot of sense to me," Goldwein said. Drug prices "Last year was the first time in 51 years that drug pricing for prescription drugs actually came down." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: This was a slight exaggeration. Prescription drug prices declined last year for the first time in 46 years, according to one of several measures. The Consumer Price Index for prescription drugs showed a 0.6% decline between December 2017 and December 2018, the first calendar-year decline since 1972. As The Washington Post pointed out in its own recent fact check, some experts say the Consumer Price Index is a flawed measure of trends in drug prices, since it doesn't include rebates that drug companies pay to insurers. The IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science, which studies drug prices, found that "net drug prices in the United States increased at an estimated 1.5% in 2018." Trump can reasonably cite the Consumer Price Index. He was just off on the number of years. Preexisting conditions "... We will always protect patients with preexisting conditions, always." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: This claim is undercut by Trump's actions and those of congressional Republicans during his presidency. We usually don't fact-check promises, but this one has already proved untrue. Trump's administration and congressional Republicans have repeatedly put forward bills and lawsuits that would weaken Obamacare's protections for people with preexisting conditions. Trump is currently supporting a Republican lawsuit that is seeking to get all of Obamacare declared void. He has not issued a plan to reinstate the law's protections for people with preexisting conditions if the suit succeeds. Right to Try "They had no hope. For 44 years, they've been trying to get Right to Try. ... I got it approved, and it wasn't easy." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: There had not been a 44-year push for a federal Right to Try law, experts said. The law tries to make it easier for terminally ill patients to access experimental medications that have not received Food and Drug Administration approval for widespread use. Similar laws have been passed at the state level only since 2014, after the Goldwater Institute, a libertarian think tank, began pushing for them. "I have no idea what 'they've been trying to get' for 44 years. The Right to Try law was a creation of the Goldwater Institute, and it first became state law in 2014 (in Colorado), relatively soon after it was first conceived of," said Alison Bateman-House, assistant professor of medical ethics at New York University's Langone Health. Before Right to Try Trump said that, before the Right to Try program came into effect, terminally ill patients "couldn't get medicine." He said, "They couldn't get anything -- they'd travel to Asia, if they had money. They'd travel to Europe, they'd travel all over the world hoping for a cure. If they had no money, they'd just go home, they'd die. They had no hope." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: It is not true that terminally ill patients "couldn't get anything" or would simply have to go home and die until Trump signed the Right to Try law in 2018. Prior to the law, patients did have to ask the federal government for permission to access experimental medications -- but the government almost always said yes. Scott Gottlieb, who served as Trump's FDA commissioner until April, told Congress in 2017 that the FDA had approved 99% of patient requests. "Emergency requests for individual patients are usually granted immediately over the phone and non-emergency requests are generally processed within a few days," he testified. This Piece Originally Appeared in CNN Read the full article

#claims #False #lie #Lies #Misleading #Sexist #Trump

0 notes

medicatemedrmccoy · 7 years

Text

Holy Survey Batman

I was tagged by @outside-the-government (*shakes fist* haha j/k <333 )

Tagging: I haven’t kept up with who has and hasn’t been tagged. If anyone wants to, feel free and tag me :D

Keep reading tag because fuck, 85 questions, good lord.

1. Drink? Red diamond tea at work, homemade at home with a smattering of water here and there

2. Phone Call? My last phone call or who I call the most? Hang on let me dust off my recent calls list. Oh, right, no one, because even my mother knows to send me a FB message at the least if she wants to get ahold of me. Phone calls are the devil.

3. Texting? Oh lord, I have a ton. The bff, my mom, my dad, handfuls of random friends at any given time, coworkers, boss, will include tumblr messaging - same thing, @imoutofmyvulcanmind @bkwrm523 @arrowsshootyouforwards all day everyday<33 . I like to chit chat, can you tell? xD

4. Last song you listened to? I’m weird, I had It Ain’t Me - Kygo & Selena Gomez playing on my phone and had Just Like Fire - P!nk on my laptop.

5. Last time you cried? About a month or so ago after some bad news

6. Dated someone twice? Oh yeah, I should have saw all the warning signs way back when.

7. Kissed someone and regretted it? Yes, god so much

8. Been cheated on? Yes, it fucking sucks. Do everyone a favor and end the relationship first if you’re even thinking about cheating.

9. Lost someone special? Yes

10. Been depressed? Quite frequently

11. Gotten drunk and thrown up? Hahahaha oh god yes, but that’s a story for another time kiddos

Favorite Colors

12. Blue

13. Purple

14. Grey

In the last year have you…

15. Made new friends? *gestures to all of Tumblr* All of you lovely people, and quite a few local ones.

16. Fallen out of love? Oh hell to the yes.

17. Laughed until you cried? Ahhh earlier today, but that’s also another story for a different time

18. Found out someone was talking about you? Uhhm, nope? Because I will talk shit about me right along with you haha

19. Met someone who changed you? I don’t think I’d use changed, as much as I would say someone who helped me get back to some semblance of the person who I used to be

20. Found out who your friends are? Hahahahaha oh yes. Let’s just say I had to make all new ones, from the ground up.

21. Kissed someone on your Facebook list? Yup.

22. How many of your Facebook friends do you know irl? The majority of them but I have a few close internet friends that I have on there.

23. Do you have any pets? I wish :(

24. Do you want to change your name? Yes

25. What did you do for your last birthday? Sat in my house quietly and waited for it to pass.

26. What time did you wake up? 5:30am almost everyday I cry. My brain thinks I like to be up at that time most days. Sometimes earlier

27. What were you doing at midnight last night? Cruising reddit, or playing a game/reading most likely

28. Name something you can’t wait for: Summer to be over. Is 121F even sustainable for life? Someone send us some cool air.

29. When was the last time you saw your mom? Sunday

What happened to 30?

31. What are you listening to right now? The AC chugging along, trying to keep up with this heat and The Sun Will Rise - Kelly Clarkson

32. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom? I probably have in all reality, but I can’t think of any off the top of my head so I’m going to say, no.

33. Something that is getting on your nerves? The fact that I bought this house brand new barely a year ago, and its fucking falling apart already it seems xD, the cost of buying a car tag/plate, this fucking heat, work, ect

34. Most visited website? Aside from Tumblr? Probablyyyyy Reddit

35. Hair color. Darkish brown

36. Long or short hair? Short, short, super short!

37. Do you have a crush on someone? Nah, ain’t got time for that nonsense.

38. What do you like about yourself? Uhhhh, fuck, can I phone a friend?

39. Piercings? Just one in each ear. I am not very exciting, Im sorry.

40. Blood type? AB+, iirc

41. Nickname? Kat, kitten, neko, gato and basically anything else anyone comes up with

42. Relationship status? siiinngglee but I’m taking applications

43. Zodiac? Virgo/Libra cusp

44: Pronouns: She/Her.

45. Favorite TV Show: Oh geez. Maybe Game of Thrones? Walking dead? Supernatural(although not so much as of late) Its really hard to choose :(

46. Tattoos? Nope, although I do want one

47. Right or left handed? Right.

48. Surgery? Oh lord, uh I fell through a window when I was like 4, so that was pretty extensive surgery on my hand and foot, still have the scars, drunk driving accident when I was around 15(wreckage inspiration), lasik on my eyes, which has failed already(hello glasses my old frienddd), TFCC tear on my wrist(fucking sucked) and I think thats it?

49. Piercing? See question 39…?

50. Sports? I used to play soccer up until high school, not much anymore unless you consider the occasional jog a sport? I like to go kayaking as much as possible, also not sure thats a sport?

51. Vacation? Vacations? What are those? I haven’t had a proper vacation since I went to Cancun in like 2002.

52. Pair of trainers? I am a woman who loves shoes, please don’t make me choose. I do dig my Roos and Nikes though

53. Eating? shelled peanuts

54. Drinking? Water and tea.

55. I’m about to? Get a hand cramp typing out all these answers

56. Waiting for? For my metaphorical ship to come in *grows beard*

57. Want? Someone to come and knock on my door and either hand me a big check, or say “Hi, I’d like to take care of you and pay your bills for the rest of your life.”

58. Get married? Hell no, never again. See #8

59. Career? Im a jack of all trades, master of none at the office. My title encompasses a lot and don’t have a specific title, but mostly Accounting.

60. Hugs or kisses? Hugs

70. Turned someone down? Yup, its becoming old hat at this point

71. Sex on the first date? No, hello demisexuality

72. Broken someones heart? Yes, it was pretty terrible. I still feel awful about it

73. Had your heart broken? That would require you to have a heart in the first place, right?

74. Been arrested? Not officially, but since my uncle is a sheriff, some of the guys think its hilarious to pull me over in town.

75. Cried when someone died? Yes.

76.. Fallen for a friend? Yeap

do you believe in…

77. Yourself? Hahahaha nah, I’m just wingin it

78. Miracles? Uhhhmmm, no, not really, just circumstances.

79. Love at first sight? Nah

80. Santa Claus? Nah, never did, my dad is a scrooge and never put up the charade

81. Kiss on the first date? Eh, it depends, usually its just awkward, or that could still be my demisexuality talking

82. Angels? Only the angels among us. In the medical field, saving lives, the people feeding the hungry, clothing the homeless. The people here trying to truly do good.

83. Current best friends name? I’ll go with two. Local - Tamara and here @imoutofmyvulcanmind aka loveable little nerd aka Luci

84. Eye color? Hazel. Brown inner ring with green on the outside

85. Favorite movie? Definitely Wonder Woman now. Sorry Star Trek :(

#about me meme #now im tired

6 notes · View notes

jamlocked · 7 years

Text

I was tagged by @summeringminor. BOOM, let’s do it.

Rules: answer these 92 statements and tag however many people you want.

THE LAST:

1. Drink: coffee

2.Phone call: some customer service dude this afternoon

3. Text message: *checks phone* A message to another parent, ten days ago

4. Song you listened to: Lyeoka - Simply Falling 5. Time you cried: I have literally no idea. It’s been a while.

HAVE YOU: 6. Dated someone twice: would this be a good time to rant about my hatred of non-specific questions? Have I been on a date with the same person twice? Have I broken up with someone, and gone out with them again?

Either way, the answer is no.

7. Kissed someone and regretted it: stealing V’s answer - Only as a waste of time 8. Been cheated on: No 9. Lost someone special: WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? Has someone special to me died? Yes, my grandmother. Have I ‘lost’ someone I was in love with? No. Lost a friend? Sure, loads. 10. Been depressed: Not since this morning. 11. Gotten drunk and thrown up: So many times. So many, many times.

LIST 3 FAVORITE COLORS: 12-14: black, green...idk, I don’t have a third

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU: 15. Made new friends: online, yes 16. Fallen out of love: no 17. Laughed until you cried: oh yes 18. Found out someone was talking about you: don’t understand the question. Talked about me behind my back? No. 19. Met someone who changed you: no 20. Found out who your friends are: the implication that I needed to because something bad happened? No 21. Kissed someone on your Facebook list: God no ETA: OMG WHAT AM I THINKING. My FB list consists of people I have known since college. So, yeah. Quite a few.

GENERAL: 22. How many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: most of them, I should think. Or I’ve known them at some point in my life, at least. What would be the point of friending strangers on FB? 23. Do you have any pets: no 24. Do you want to change your name: it’s happening. In about a month, I think. 25. What did you do for your last Birthday: nothing. I usually go to a movie, but I don’t think I could this year for some reason. OH WAIT. V showed me some glorious art they’d done for me, and it was perfect. <333 26. What time did you wake up: 08:10 27. What were you doing at midnight last night: working 28. Name something you can’t wait for: three weeks from now, I’ll be in London for almost a week of theatre, followed by three days of getting fucked up with old uni mates. Stellar. 29. When was the last time you saw your mom: end of May, I think. She stopped off at mine on the way back from Ireland 30. What is one thing you wish you could change in your life: where I live 31. What are you listening right now: tennis commentary from the TV. C’mon, Fed! You deserve this one. 32. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: LMAO. I’m British. We are all called Tom on some level. 33. Something that is getting on your nerves: my OCD need to reformat this questionnaire as I go. Why are the questions not already bolded? Can’t be doing with that. 34. Most visited Website: this one, probably. It’s rarely not open in some tab or other, even if I don’t check it all day.

LOST QUESTIONS. I JUST PUT IN RANDOM INFO ABOUT ME 35. Mole/s: nope 36. Mark/s: scar on my finger, surgery scar on each elbow, eyebrow scar...think that’s it, p much 37. Childhood dream: footballer. Then actor. 38. Hair colour: Auburn 39. Long or short hair: as short as it can be without being against the scalp 40. Do you have a crush on someone: no one real 41. What do you like about yourself: I’m smart, and I choose my better angels 42. Piercings: ears. I didn’t wear earrings for fifteen years, but I got a single one a month ago and it went in fine. It’s a Vivienne Westwood cock, if you’re interested. I used to have my eyebrow done, but it got ripped out by a horse. See: eyebrow scar 43. Bloodtype: O neg 44. Nickname: Used to have several, yeah 45. Relationship status: single 46. Zodiac: Pisces 47. Pronouns: He/him 48. Favorite TV Show: Sherlock, Life on Mars, The West Wing. 49. Tattoos: three 50. Right or left hand: right 51. Surgery: yep, just day surgery though. Trapped nerves in my elbows due to an insanely drunken night in New York 52. Hair dyed in different color: no. I dyed it black a couple of times about fifteen years ago, and it was okay. But it’s an awkward colour to dye and anyway, it’s red. Why would I want to change it? 53. Sport: yes. All of them. Particularly football and tennis 55. Vacation: Russia. Antarctica. Skiing anywhere. New York, always. 56. Pair of trainers: Skechers...okay, they’re not really trainers. Skate shoes. My runners are Brooks.

MORE GENERAL: 57. Eating: Meh. 58. Drinking: coffee, Diet Coke, and oh so much beer. Not that I drink much these days, but when I do I go big. 59. I’m about to: make dinner 61. Waiting for: Godot 62. Want: I can’t be bothered to type out an answer for this 63. Get married: God no 64. Career: writer. Though I’m exceedingly crap at taking the opportunities already offered.

WHICH IS BETTER 65. Hugs or kisses: kisses 66. Lips or eyes: both? Idk, never really thought about it. Depends who they belong to, I should think. 67. Shorter or taller: just a bit taller than me 68. Older or younger: older 70. Nice arms or nice stomach: both 71. Sensitive or loud: both 72. Hook up or relationship: hook up 73. Troublemaker or hesitant: troublemaker

HAVE YOU EVER: 74. Kissed a Stranger: Looooool. Oh so many. 75. Drank hard liquor: yes. Like, a lot. 76. Lost glasses/contact lenses: don’t need either 77. Turned someone down: yes, I think so. A long time ago. 78. Sex on the first date: for sure 79. Broken someone’s heart: well. I think one or two people would say yes, and it’d pretty rude of me to disagree with how they say they felt. But at the time, ‘no’ would have felt like a more truthful answer. To me, at least, but it’s not really about me. 80. Had your heart broken: yes, but probably not in the way you think 81. Been arrested: Yyyyyeeeeeaaaaaahno, not really. Sort of? In a way. 82. Cried when someone died: for sure. A couple of them have even been real people 83. Fallen for a friend: no, never. I used to fall for people before we became friends, and they’d fall for me after we became friends.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN: 84. Yourself: in my ability, yes. In my application of it, no. 85. Miracles: yes 86. Love at first sight: yes, but only for other people 87. Santa Claus: no 88. Kiss on the first date: I’m not sure why you’d go on a date if you weren’t planning on kissing a person, or more, so yeah

OTHER: 90. Current best friend name: ...hmm. Dunno. 91. Eye colour: I presume this is asking for mine, not just the one I like best? Green. 92. Favourite movie: American Beauty, The Usual Suspects, Pride.

I’m not tagging anyone just because this was really long and I can’t be bothered now. But I’d be v. interested to see my followers answers!

#all about meme

2 notes · View notes

dwyguyhikes · 3 years

Photo

Mt. Rainier

Paradise to Camp Muir: 4,788 ft gain in 5:49

Camp Muir to Summit: 4,222 ft gain in 5:50

Final elevation: 14,410 ft

Link: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/washington/mount-rainier-standard-summit-route

Buckle up for this one because it’s going to be a long one.

I was supposed to climb Mt. Rainier last year, but the trip got canceled because of COVID. I knew this was going to be one of my toughest highpoints to check off, and I wanted to use it as an opportunity to learn as much as possible to learn about alpine and glacier traveling. RMI Expeditions offered a 5-day program with multiple days of training, so I knew it was the perfect route for me to go.

I got picked up in Seattle by some other people on the trip, and we made our way to basecamp in Ashford. The first day was just orientation and gear check. I had to rent a few pieces of equipment, but most of the stuff on the list I either had already or was able to borrow from Nick back in Salt Lake. Some interesting gear that I didn’t have any prior experience with were crampons, double leather boots, gaiters, and an ice axe.

We also met our lead guide, Jenny, on the first day. All I can say about Jenny is that she’s a total badass, and I knew that she was going to get us up and down that mountain safely. Our team had 8 climbers not including the guides: Chris, Minia, Jim, Jason, Jamie, Ricky, Eli, and myself.

Once we had all our gear sorted out and learned the best way to stuff it all into a backpack, we broke for the day. I was staying at a campsite only a few miles away, so I headed there to try and rest up for the big days to come. Conveniently, this campsite featured a bird that constantly pecked at the metal roof of the building in the center of the camp as well as a small army of screaming children with their parents’ Trump flags billowing in the wind. Terrific stuff.

Day 2 was a training day. We went to a snowy part near the bottom of the mountain and learned how to walk up and down hills with crampons, self and team arrest with an ice axe, anchor an ice spike, and walk as a team of 4 people. On Rainier, we’d be tethered together for nearly the whole climb. There needs to be 30 ft of rope between each person because that’s how wide the crevasses are on the mountain in case someone falls in. Jamie also shared that she had fallen into a crevasse while trying to climb Mt. Baker, so the dangers of the climb were starting to become more and more apparent.

We also got to meet our second guide, Steve, who used to be a pro hockey player and is missing his two front teeth to prove it. He actually plays now for the Idaho team in the BDHL, which I’m trying to play for in Park City. Small world!

After minimal training I still felt incredibly unprepared, but that didn’t matter because we were climbing anyways. The next day, we met a Paradise parking lot at around 9 am and started our climb! Our goal for that day was to get to Camp Muir, where we’d be staying for our nights on the mountain. It has a bunkhouse for us to sleep in as well as tents for the unvaxxed folks.

The hike up to Camp Muir was a slog and gave us a taste of exactly how difficult this climb would be. Steep hills and slushy snow made for some tough terrain, but it was nothing we couldn’t handle. We all walked in a straight line, with each person kick-stepping into the previous person’s footprints. This meant the last person in line had practically a staircase for all the steep hills. Imagine climbing a 5,000 ft high staircase with a 40 lb backpack on your back, and that’s roughly what our experience was like. Chris ended up falling way behind and Eli pulled something in his leg about 75% of the way up, and it was tough to see team members fall off like that.

I think the worst part was that everything seemed deceptively close. When we caught out first glimpse of Camp Muir, it looked like it was 5 minutes away. Wrong! We still had another hour to go after seeing it. That bit was demoralizing.

Eventually we all made it to Camp Muir and claimed our spots in the bunkhouse. The guides provided hot water for our meals and prepared us for the next day. Based on the weather forecast, our best chance to summit would be the next day. This means waking up at 12:30 am and heading out of camp at 2 am, so we all headed to bed straight after dinner. The elevation and general excitement/anxiety led me to get MAYBE an hour of sleep before the guides came roaring in at 12:30 to wake us up. They said it was pretty normal to not sleep the night before the climb, but that didn’t make me feel any less tired.

Chris and Eli weren’t fit to climb, so we departed as a team of 6 with our guides. With only our headlamps to guide us, all you could really do was keep your head down and look at your feet. We had to conserve energy by rest-stepping into the footprints of the person in front of you. I started out on a rope with Jenny and Minia, and Jenny set us off into the darkness with a nice, slow pace.

We crossed Cowlitz Glacier and then made it to Ingraham Glacier. The scariest part was crossing some pretty narrow bridges over crevasses. I tried not to think about the fact that you couldn’t see the bottom when you looked down them and just focused on putting one foot in front of the other. After crossing the glaciers, we took our first break after about an hour. We put our parkas on to stay warm and tried our best to force food and water down. It’s crazy how hard it is to eat at that elevation. This was also where Minia decided she couldn’t go any further, so one of the guides took her back and we changed up our rope teams. Now we’re down to 5 members.

The next bit was absolutely debilitating. We had to ascend Disappointment Cleaver (cleaver? I barely know her), which was a rocky section full of switchbacks. Normally I feel pretty at-home while scrambling over rocks, but doing it in crampons with full backpacks and no light was terrible. All I tried to do was focus on my breathing and ignore the grating sounds of metal spikes on rocks. I was tied in with Ricky for this part, and I could tell he was having a hard time. After about an hour and half of climbing, we sat down for our second break and had a breathtaking view of the sunrise. That view alone almost made the cleaver worth it, but I can barely put into words how much that part sucked.

Break passed quickly, and before we could start up again Jim decided that he couldn’t go any further. Jenny made the executive decision to call it for Ricky too, so they both tied up with another guide and started heading back down. Now there were only 3 of our original team left: Jason, Jamie, and myself. We all tied in with Jenny and became the J-Line (since, ya know, my middle name is John…)

The next bit I could only describe as a seemingly never-ending staircase. At this elevation, every step becomes a struggle. Our pace is slow but steady, I’d say we’re taking roughly one step every two seconds. Try that out for a quick second to understand just how slow our pace needed to be to be sustainable.

The last leg really took its toll on Jamie who was in the back. I was trying to crack jokes to keep team morale high, but everyone was getting their ass kicked by this crazy mountain. After what felt like an eternity of climbing, we eventually reach the crater at the top of the mountain. The crater is considered the summit, but the true summit was about another 30 minute hike past this point. I was so excited and full of adrenaline that I practically ran toward it. Jamie and Jason stayed behind, content with the crater, so I ended up being the only person of my 8 person team to reach the true summit.

I snapped some pictures up there (and recorded a quick clip for my next Survivor application) before starting to feel light-headed and heading back to the team on the crater. Little did I know that my rushing to the true summit would lead to a truly miserable descent: my trip to the top meant that I didn’t get a break like the rest of the team. As soon as I made it back to the crater, I had about 2 minutes of sitting before it was time to head down. We were in a time crunch because some unusual heat was going to produce bad descent conditions, so we needed to leave before it got too bad. I thought I’d be ok with a super short break, but boy was I wrong.

The heat, the elevation, and the exhaustion proceeded to destroy my body on the descent. My head hurt, my body ached, and I started to get tunnel vision. I had to keep telling myself “the only way off this mountain is down, and you sure as hell can’t afford a copter ride out of here.” I was stumbling all over the place and started getting really scared that things were going to end badly.

Pure grit got me to the first break, where I felt nauseous and could barely eat or drink. I put away as much water as I could, which made me feel only slighter better. Still, the only way off was down, and it was time for Disappointment Cleaver round two.

Downhill rocks with crampons on felt like a living nightmare. I was slipping a ton and I was walking in a daze. It felt like a miracle when we finally made it through and returned to the snow. This came with its own frustrations, as Jason and I kept post-holing waist deep into the snow. I wanted to shout and cry and just lay down every time this happened. My morale never felt lower.

I think one of my favorite things about hiking is just the simplicity of it. All you do is put left foot over right foot over left foot until you make it to your destination. The best I could do was focus on this as we continued our descent to Camp Muir. When we finally rounded the corner and saw it, I nearly wept. I felt terrible: I was out of water, my head was throbbing, my clothes were soaked from sweat, and my feet felt like they were about to fall off. The final steps into camp had me on the brink of collapsing.

I immediately rushed into the bunkhouse to take off my layers and try to hydrate and cool down. I laid in my bunk for a couple hours but didn’t feel any better. I was guzzling water but wasn’t peeing, which had me worried. I felt nauseous and dizzy and couldn’t cool down. Jenny came to check on me, and said that I probably had heat exhaustion, which is crazy to think of when you’re on a mountain covered in snow. She said that all the water I drank was diluting my body, and that my body was probably starved of electrolytes. She made me a quesadilla and brought me a Gatorade as I continued laying in bed.

After trying unsuccessfully to sleep it off, I went outside and proceeded to immediately throw up everything. The liter and a half of water I had drank since we got back came spewing out. The good thing is that this helped with my nausea! I still felt like ass, though. I went back into the bunkhouse and tried to sip the Gatorade and nibble the quesadilla as much as my body would allow me. Luckily, I was able to get a bit of a nap in too. I had gone the last 30 or so hours on only an hour of sleep, and my body was not happy about it.

The nap + Gatorade + quesadilla combo helped me to feel a lot better. It still felt like a struggle to get anything into my body. The rest of the team met with the guides to learn some knots since we had time to kill, but I didn’t have any strength to get out of bed. That was a low moment for me.

Night finally fell and it felt like a miracle that I was able to get some sleep. The wind was howling all night and there was a symphony of snoring coming from the other bunks. I woke up around 4 am and actually felt moderately ok, so I think my body was finally recovering.

I kept sleeping on and off until it got to be about time to go. We packed everything up and it was finally time to get the hell off this mountain. The Camp Muir to Paradise hike was almost enjoyable even. It was all downhill so we kept a good pace, and there were tons of “luge” spots where you could slide down on your ass. That’s my kind of descent.

After about 2 hours, we finally made it to the pavement of the Paradise parking lot, and I wanted to kiss the ground. We headed back to Ashford to return our rental gear and celebrate with our team over some beer and burgers.

Man, what an incredible experience this trip was! I loved how much fun our team was and how knowledgeable the guides were. We all kept each other in good spirits, and I got up and down the mountain (mostly) safely. That’s all I could really ask for. All in all, though, I think I’m ok to not do any more hikes for a little while. Only 48 more highpoints to go!

#hiking #rainier #mt rainer #mt rainer national park #highpointing #summit #snow #glacier #crevasse

0 notes

oltnews · 4 years

Link

Last week, small businesses excluded from the government's check protection loan program were all the rage at their banks for fumbling around with their demands. Dan Abrams, owner of The Mermaid Inn and five other Manhattan restaurants, had all of his loan documents ready when the Small Business Administration launched the $ 350 million stimulus package on April 3. But every time he logged into the Capital One loan portal, there was no link to apply - until it was too late. "We received an email from Capital One saying they were ready to accept our application" on April 17 - the day after the funding ended, Abrams told The Post. Rob Bookman, who owns a small Manhattan law firm that manages liquor permits for restaurants and bars, also blew up his bank for approving his loan request, but withdrew his funding promise a week later. late. Bookman said it received an SMS notification that the Citibank site was open for applications on April 9 - six days after the launch of the SBA program. Despite the delay, it was approved within two hours. Bookman even received a confirmation notice the next day, "and my banker told me that I would be among the first loans processed," he said. But a week later, on April 17, he received an email explaining that there was no more money in the PPP program and that Citibank would hold back "for up to 30 days". "I asked if my application had been sent to the SBA," said Bookman, whose activity is down 75% due to the coronavirus. "I did not get an answer," he said. Questions arise as the Kafka-esque process should start again. Congress decided Tuesday to add an additional $ 320 billion to its small business rescue program, known as the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, after the Small Business Administration had used up the first $ 350 million in just 13 days. The program has also been the subject of much criticism for paying large sums of money to banks to send hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer dollars to their big public clients, such as Ruth's Chris Steak House, Potbelly Sandwich Shop and Wilhelmina International, an artistic agency that represents big stars like Nicki Minaj and Nick Jonas. The Wall Street Journal reported that companies with large outstanding loans issued by banks involved in P3s often fared better than other companies. And several banks have been sued alleging that they are prioritizing larger and more profitable loans. Small business owners cut off from the process must have wondered why they were excluded from the P3 line - if they were allowed to queue in the first place - and if it would happen again. Abrams, for example, was required - like all applicants - to apply for a PPP loan from a bank with which it had a long-standing relationship. But his bank, Capital One, "focused on testing the system by manually accepting a small number of requests," spokeswoman Nicole Wyman told The Post in an email. Wyman said the Capital One candidates were "randomly selected customers who had expressed interest and shared information with us before April 5." And the bank told Abrams that its request for a loan of $ 2.4 million to support its 320 employees will be submitted to the next round. "I am optimistic," he told the Post. Bookman said a Citigroup official told him that his application had not been forwarded to the SBA for a week because the bank was "overwhelmed" with applications. Once the SBA has received a request, it is processed and assigned a loan number in "less than an hour," Steve Bulger, SBA regional administrator for the region, told The Post. of the Atlantic. A Citibank spokesperson told The Post that he regrets "that some of our clients have not received funding until SBA funds have been used up," and added that he "will work without to help these clients get the funding they need ”in the next round of funding. A banker from a leading bank blamed the lack of clarity from the Treasury Department for delays and other snags. "It was all a slow disaster," the banker told The Post. "There was no DC orientation, and this made an impossible process even worse." But at least one small banker says he was able to process $ 172 million in PPP loans for 598 small businesses in his area by making loans before getting advice from the Treasury - and then flooding the SBA with requests once the officially open program. "When I saw this program announced for the first time, I thought," This money is going to go quickly, "said Edward Barry, CEO of Maryland Capital Bank, a $ 1.4 billion community bank. "We had to be ready." "$ 350 billion is a lot, but I knew it was a drop," said Barry. With the report by Thornton McEnery https://oltnews.com/small-businesses-share-frustration-of-losing-in-first-round-of-ppp-funding-new-york-post?_unique_id=5ea0dd9c9c505

0 notes

bigyack-com · 4 years

Text

For Small Businesses, Paycheck Protection Program Means Hard Choices

When Joseph Levey logged in to Chase Bank’s lending portal early Tuesday, he hoped he would finally be able to submit his law firm’s application for a federal stimulus loan. He had been trying since the previous Friday.“One of the C.P.A.s I work with was just heading home at 6 a.m.,” said Mr. Levey, founding partner of the Manhattan firm Helbraun Levey. “Chase’s application portal didn’t open until Monday night, and it kept crashing.”Like Mr. Levey, small-business owners around the country are racing to secure their portion of the Paycheck Protection Program, a $349 billion relief program that Congress authorized to help them survive the pandemic and keep their employees on the payroll.Because the loans are first come first served, many business owners are panicked that the money will run out before their applications are approved. They are also trying to figure out exactly what the program does, and whether the terms make sense or if they should lay off their workers despite already skyrocketing unemployment claims.Mr. Levey successfully submitted his application. But he still had hundreds more applications to file — with Chase alone — on behalf of his clients, many of whom are in the hospitality and cannabis industries.Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Tuesday that he had asked lawmakers for an additional $250 billion for the payroll program, but it was up to Congress to allocate any additional funding.The loans, which are a part of the $2 trillion relief program Congress enacted last month, could be a lifeline for Tran Wills and the 43 employees of Base Coat, her chain of nail salons in Colorado and California.The program is designed to help businesses with fewer than 500 employees by lending them up to two months of payroll costs, with each loan capped at $10 million. Self-employed and contract workers are also eligible, but their loan process didn’t start until Friday.These relief loans are issued through Small Business Administration-approved lenders and, unlike loans in previous crises, don’t require any personal guarantee or collateral from borrowers. The money is intended to primarily cover payroll, but funds can be used for other expenses that are legal as long as the loan is repaid at an interest rate of 1 percent over two years.However, the federal government will forgive the loans if a business uses at least 75 percent of the funds to maintain its payroll at pre-pandemic levels for eight weeks after the loan is disbursed (based on a 40-hour workweek). The remaining money can be used only to pay for certain expenses, such as a mortgage, rent and utilities.In most cases, the S.B.A. is using payrolls as of Feb. 15 as its definition of pre-pandemic levels.The fact that the loan is essentially a grant is a key reason Ms. Wills has worked so hard to get in line. She tried to apply at Chase and U.S. Bank before successfully submitting her application at Sunflower Bank, a small community lender based in Denver.Ms. Wills decided not to lay off her staff even though the salon is closed, because she had heard the grant would require her to maintain full staffing without interruption. Her staff is working from home with reduced hours and wages, helping her teach classes and fulfill online orders for Base Coat’s nail polish line. Some employees have also filed for unemployment benefits to make up the difference.If Ms. Wills had laid off her team, she would still be eligible for the grant once she brought the team back — but that fact was initially unclear. The Treasury Department recently clarified that businesses must rehire staff (or employ new workers) and return their payrolls to February levels by June 30, when the loan program is set to expire.She thinks keeping her employees was the right move because many of them have been with her since she opened in 2013 and because she believes there will be high demand once she reopens.“We’re going to be crying at the end of the day because we’ll be so busy,” Ms. Wills said.However, if the loan doesn’t come through or businesses aren’t able to reopen in May, the story changes. Ms. Wills said she wouldn’t have the money to keep paying anyone, even after canceling her utilities and negotiating rent deals.“I’m OK until mid-May,” Ms. Wills said. “But after that, nobody is going to have money to buy things online to keep us alive.”

‘This grant will become a loan.’

Some economists are warning that program loans in the stimulus package, known as the CARES Act, may not be a great fit for all businesses — even if they can get them.“A lot of businesses know their revenue isn’t going back to February levels by the beginning of May, so they might be better off using other provisions of the CARES Act, like the expanded unemployment benefits,” said Betsey Stevenson, professor of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan and former chief economist for the Department of Labor.That’s the decision that Ivy Mix and her business partners made for their staff at the Brooklyn bar Leyenda. Instead of taking out a payroll program loan, they closed in mid-March and laid off 24 people until they learned more.The owners made their decision after realizing that the funds would most likely have to be spent before they could reopen. If they received the money in late April, they would be paying employees to stay at home rather than having the cash when they knew they could be open.“We don’t know what’s going to be happening, and we almost certainly won’t be running at 100 percent capacity when we do, whether that’s because of legal restrictions or people’s fear,” Ms. Mix said. “So this grant will become a loan.”And a loan scares Ms. Mix. In its nearly five years, the bar has operated without debt, and she doesn’t want to take any on now.“We’d rather tell our employees to file for unemployment benefits,” she said. “We have a better chance of staying in business if we reopen and hire them back then.”That’s a common refrain from Mr. Levey’s clients. Businesses, he said, don’t want to take a payroll loan and hire workers back, then have to fire them again in eight weeks because restaurants aren’t open.“The program makes a lot of sense for law firms, accounting firms, any of the professional firms where people can still do work from home,” Mr. Levey said. “P.P.P. loans for people who are not doing business right now don’t work unless the applicant is of the mind-set that they are trying not to lose their key people.”

Workers are doing the math.

Some workers prefer to be laid off than have their employers keep them on through the program. The stimulus package expanded unemployment benefits widely, allowing people who need to stay home to care for sick loved ones or for children. It also added a $600 subsidy to each weekly check for up to four months.In a state like Michigan, where the maximum weekly unemployment benefit is normally $362, some workers can now receive up to $962 per week. Once they have applied and their eligibility and state award amount are determined, the $600 is added to their checks. Workers haven’t seen that cash yet, but it will be retroactive for people who began filing March 29.Even with delays and the potential that they will be job hunting in a few months, the extra cash is attractive to some employees.“I’ve had a lot of clients over the last week say there is no way I’m going to get these people to come back to work,” Mr. Levey said.And that puts business owners in a conundrum. Do they take paycheck protection knowing that their employees might be better off on unemployment? What do essential businesses do if a worker doesn’t want to go in?That’s the challenge facing Liz Blondy, the owner of Canine to Five, a dog day care in Detroit.When Michigan’s stay-at-home order was announced, Ms. Blondy laid off 70 of her 90 workers and saw her business drop by 95 percent. She kept on six salaried managers and three hourly employees to help care for the pets of essential workers. She didn’t know yet that the program would be an option or what the terms were. Now, she is trying to apply and considering bringing her team back.But some of the workers have said they’d rather stay on unemployment or be laid off.“If you don’t feel comfortable leaving your house in a pandemic, I am not going to push you. That’s not fair,” Ms. Blondy said. “But I might not have work for you in the future.”She said she wished the unemployment system were clearer about how to handle situations like these. Can employees refuse work? Does she have to challenge their unemployment claim — something she doesn’t want to do? Can it be considered fraud if she doesn’t?A spokeswoman for the Department of Labor said Wednesday that states could interpret their own laws and that employers weren’t responsible for challenging unemployment claims. But in general, “individuals that quit without good cause or refuse suitable offers of employment are not eligible for benefits.”Ms. Blondy still intends to apply when her lender, Comerica Bank, finally opens its portal. By Thursday night, Comerica still hadn’t given business customers access to applications.“I am going to be paralyzed by indecision for the next week as I figure this out,” Ms. Blondy said. “But it’s relatively inexpensive money, and it will help me through this time even if it’s not forgivable in the end.”

How Business Owners Can Cope

File Paycheck Protection Program applications at off hours, when sites are less likely to be inundated.Remember that the program may be better suited for firms whose workers earn higher wages or those who can work from home.The program may not be well suited for businesses, like bars and restaurants, that don’t know they will be able to return to operations. Read the full article

0 notes

phawareglobal · 5 years

Text

Iain Hess - phaware® interview 300

In our 300th episode, Iain Hess discusses his lifesaving double-lung transplant he received two years ago on January 17, 2017. Iain is a former pulmonary hypertension patient from Colorado who was diagnosed at age 5.

My name is Ian Hess, and I'm here to share my story.

One year ago, I was standing on top of one of Colorado's 14,000-foot peaks. It was a difficult climb to the top, but overall it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. It was something that I'd wanted to do for a long time, but never had the opportunity to, because for 12 years I had lived with pulmonary hypertension [PH]. Doing something like this was just simply impossible. But thanks to my physicians, nurses, parents, people at the pharmaceutical companies, friends, everyone, I was able to do such a thing.

Going back to 2004, two weeks before a planned family trip to India, I was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension. At the time, I couldn't really comprehend what my diagnosis meant, but the doctors essentially told my parents that if I were to go on a flight pressurized to 8,000 feet, it would be a big mistake. So, 10 days later I had a right heart catheterization, which confirmed that I have super systemic levels and I immediately was diagnosed and had a central line put in and was put on a CADD pump which administered Flolan.

For years after diagnosis, the progression of the disease was constant, but it was not frightening. In a way, it was like boiling the proverbial frog in that I couldn't feel the difference day by day, but overall and after time, my body was taking the damage. There was a lot I could no longer do.

Since I was two years old, my family had started me skiing, but as soon as I was diagnosed I could no longer go to high elevations or do anything of that sort. So initially ,that didn't really affect me too much. But as time went on and my siblings started skiing and my friends started skiing, I definitely felt like I was missing out.

Being connected to a central line and pump obviously had many drawbacks. Number one, it would fail if it got wet. Number two, I had to carry a backpack with the CADD pump in it at all times. This proved difficult when it came to do activities, mainly swimming. I would have to wear a dry suit. For me, that was just one of the biggest pains because swimming was always something that I had wanted to do and always had kind of a passion for. But as soon as I had to put on that dry suit, it just took the fun out of swimming for me.

That dry suit did its job perfectly, but on the few occasions I may have ripped it or something, but water did get in on a couple times, which caused the pump to fail or my Broviac to get wet. Which in many cases, which happened many times, I either had my pump fail, which meant me not getting my medicine, which resulted in the paramedics having to come and do whatever they do.

The worst situation with my central line, overall, was probably when my parents were having a dinner party and the kids were running up and down the house, just having a good time. All of a sudden, my dog took one misstep, stepped on my central line and ripped it right out of my chest, basically causing blood and Flolan to spray everywhere. So, my dad called the paramedics and fortunately they came in time and took me down to the hospital. My dog didn't even bark when about 10 first responders came in just of the shock. In thinking back, my parents had to always be at the ready, so to speak, in case something like this happened because even the smallest situation could turn into a big deal.

Despite many drawbacks, pulmonary hypertension came in handy once or twice during my life with it. Again, once or twice, not often. I would use it to skip a class or turn in an assignment late once in a while. But the biggest positive came from the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

My dream car has always been the Bugatti Veyron. And for those of you that don't know, it was at the time, the fastest car in the world at 267 miles per hour and had a price tag of over $1 million. So, I just loved everything about it. What Make-a-Wish did for me is they sent me to France, to the Bugatti facility in the Alsace region of France in a town called Molsheim. The special thing about this trip, is that it had never been done before, first of all. Bugatti generally only lets their customers on the grounds. So, it was a very one-off experience that I got to have. Yeah, I got to ride in it, which was fun.

Pulmonary hypertension is disease that progressively worsens over time. Like I was saying before, at the beginning of freshman year of high school, I started noticing that walking up a flight of stairs would leave me breathless, gasping for air. You can see in this picture, that my face is very red, number one, due to the constantly increasing doses of vasodilators that I was on. I was also turning a kind of blue color because of the lack of oxygen that I was getting. Basically, at the time I was the color of PH. This is the color of PH.

I dealt with the worsening disease for about two years before my doctors in Denver decided that something had to be done. But what to do was unclear. One option was to pick a transplant facility and go through the application process and then decide based upon that. The other option was to go to St. Louis, Missouri, where they had recently adopted a fairly new procedure in the U.S. called the Potts Shunt.

Essentially what this procedure is just a shunt that basically directs blue blood around your heart protecting it. After visiting various transplant teams, my family and I decided that the Potts Shunt surgery was the best option for me. I can say now that picking St. Louis was the best decision of my life.

During the summer of 2016, my parents took all three kids, both my siblings on a European trip for six weeks. We went to the U.K. and saw family. We relaxed on the Coat du Soir in the south of France and went to various art exhibitions in Italy. Little did I know at the time, though, that my parents had planned this trip out as it may have been our last together. This was the calm before the storm.

I went back to Colorado and then immediately my mom, my dad and I drove to St. Louis. Initially it went pretty smoothly. I had a quick but extremely painful recovery. The incision that my doctor, Dr. Eghtesady had made was called a thoracotomy. It was about a six-inch incision vertically up the left side of my back. In doing the incision there, he had to cut through tons of deep muscle, which just turned out to be extremely painful. So, I was on Oxycodone for months and months afterwards.

The following months after the surgery, unfortunately, proved to be as hard on my body as ever. On one day, October 27, 2016, my memory started fogging up. It was a strange experience, because I couldn't remember, for example, what had happened 20 seconds prior. It was all just a foggy day and it's hard to explain. After that day, I woke up and I felt horrible. I felt the sickest I had ever felt before. I called my dad home. He got home and we checked my oxygen stats and sure enough, they had dropped to an all-time low of 75%.

We quickly took the car down to Colorado Children's Hospital where my cardiologist, Dr. Ivy, unfortunately found out that the Potts Shunt had not worked properly. I was too late, basically. At that point, the only option that I had was to go back to St. Louis to have the double lung transplant.

Two months went by and it was departure day. I exchanged emotional goodbyes with my friends at school and then later with my brother, sister, and mom. Then, my dad and I got in the car and took off for St. Louis. I can remember sitting in the car, looking back at the sunset over the Colorado Rockies and thinking man, I really hope I see this place again.

For about the first month in St. Louis, I had just constant appointments. Once that was done and out of the way, we were just kind of sitting in my apartment for two months and I was bored out of my mind. I accepted it, as even the slightest activity would completely wipe me out. I ended up staying in my apartment, basically just watching Netflix or playing video games. Because at that point, I was living a miserable life, effectively in prison by a failing heart.

When your body is fighting to survive, then there's no energy for you to actually live life. Your mind loses hope and your survival instincts turn on. You lose your sense of empathy for others and focus your energy on staying alive. You start to eat less because your body is physically shutting down. You know that somebody has to die for you to have a chance to live, and frankly and morbidly you wished for that. It's a depressing thought, but it's frankly the truth.

After about two months, of waiting on January 17, 2017, I got the call, a new pair of lungs were on their way in. The day they called me into the hospital was a day I'll never forget, I was just sitting in my room in the apartment, my parents in the room across from me, and all of a sudden, I heard commotion in the other room. I thought, what's going on? It's like 12:00 at night. Then, all of a sudden, my parents came into my room with a video camera on saying that a pair of lungs had been found and that we had to be in the hospital by 2:00 AM.

I got super excited, obviously. I got dressed, I got my shoes on, I got ready to go. I went into my parents’ room and they were still in bed. I was like what are you doing? But they had thought, and rightfully so, that the next couple of days they would be getting no sleep, so they wanted to get a little bit more sleep before we finally went in.

We ended up making it out of the apartment by 2:30, and I thought we were beyond late, but it turns out we weren't really. When we entered the hospital, we found the cardiac floor and they told us to go up, where I was initially met by my first nurse, Alyssa, who put an IV in me and basically told us the same thing, just get some sleep because the next couple of days were going to be extremely long.

Then the morning of the 17th, doctors made their rounds. Basically preop was initiated from the moment I woke up. Various units of the hospital stopped by and then around 12:00 PM they wheeled me to the elevators where I handed off my glasses and gave my parents final hugs, not knowing if it would be the last. Then we went down. The anesthesiologist took me up to the sleepy drugs and that was it.

What happened during the next month and a half are virtually nonexistent. Well, they are nonexistent from my memory. This was due to obviously the many sedative medications that I was on, and I can only recall what my parents have recounted.

Although the lungs were perfect on arrival, I ended up being on the slab for about 17 hours, because the doctors couldn't stanch endless bleeding. During that time, two massive blood transfusion protocols had to be called in, which means it's 50% of your blood replaced over a period of four hours. Only when they could stop the bleeding, which turned out to be about five days later, could they close my chest up. That was really the first battle that I faced during that time.

Soon after this, I was put on ECMO and dialysis because my kidneys had failed. After that, I had pneumothoraxes, ICU delirium, strokes, a seizure. I had vagal nerve damage, which is just basically damage to [the] area around your throat. So, I was not able to talk for a while. I also had something called neuroleptic malignant syndrome, which is a reaction to a specific kind of antipsychotic drug, which basically shot my temperature up to 107 degrees. At 107 degrees, you're very close to melting your brain. And the doctor had actually comforted my mom by telling her that the brain only melts at 108. It was an intense 48 hours of ups and downs, constantly being refrigerated and unheated. Fortunately, I don't remember any of that.

Looking back, my life has been a roller coaster of ups and downs, never knowing when you're going to rise and never knowing when you're going to fall. When I was initially diagnosed, I didn't understand what my life was turning into. Over the years as I grew and gained maturity and awareness, I also lost a lot of hope for the future. I didn't know how long I would live, but that's just something that kind of grew a part of me and I still have that mindset to this day.

At end stage pulmonary hypertension, when my body was dying and my mind weakening, I never gave up. I just kind of accepted each day as it was. In the end, I made it through. The nurses provided miracles, the doctors provided miracles. My friends and family provided plentiful support. In the end, no one knows how long they will live for. So, my overall mindset changed through this process. I kind of asked myself why do I need to rush through life so quickly? I came to the answer -- you don't.

Listen and View more on the official phaware™ podcast site

#pulmonary hypertension #phaware #rare disease #lung disease #clinical trials #podcast #PH #asthma

0 notes

newidaho · 5 years

Text

16. Reactions

Don’t have the time/patience/desire to read with your eyes? Don’t have eyes? Well, have your friend read you this: You can check out the audiobook for free on Apple, Google, Stitcher, or Spotify. Subscribe for new episodes every Wednesday!

Selected Clippings from Various News Sources, 25-26 December 2054

I. Source: Harris, Jordan. “Lucidity: An Unexpected Sea Change.” News Idaho. 25 December 2054

Just hours ago, the world received an unsolicited Christmas Present in the form of a guerrilla Lucid Event.

Compelling Keynote presentations for new technology have been the norm for 80 years, since Steve Jobs first took to stage to present the Mac in 1984. Rarely since then, however, have many CEOs and entrepreneurs been able to stand up to Jobs’ legacy.

Enter Lex Lucid and his company, Lucid Labs: The 20 year king of paradigm shifts in industry and technology.

There’s no need to recap the ways that Lucid Labs has changed the way we go about our lives. If you’re one of the 75% of Americans, or 87% of New Idahoans with Augmented Reality Lenses, you have seen it for yourself (and if you’re not, feel free to watch today’s Lucid Labs Keynote to jog your memory). If the Lucid Lens was his iPhone moment, now, 20 years later, Lex may find a moment of world-changing integration that Jobs only hoped for, only one year younger than Jobs on the day he died.

It’s Christmas Day, 2054, and Lucid Labs has announced “Lucidity”.

Lucidity is an earth-shattering technology that few of us saw coming. Lucidity is a small patch containing a computer that is (allegedly) so sensitive to brainwaves that it can essentially read your mind.

So what can you do with this powerful new technology? During the event, Lucid discussed three applications that you will be able to find on the device upon it’s release in February:

-Lucid Dream: The flagship application for the device. Lucid Dream can already record and playback the user’s dreams. Further updates are expected to integrate the software with the Imaginary Friend capabilities that have been evolving with augmented reality for the last 20 years. After that, you can finally be with the girl of your dreams. Literally.

-Lucid Creation: A native software package for Lucid Labs technology since the Lucid Mask in 2024, Lucid Creation is expected to take strides right along with the new Lucidity hardware. During the keynote, Lex Lucid hinted at what was already in the works, including an update to Lucid’s animation and music software that allows the user to simply “think” his or her creation into existence.

-Lucid Idea: Lucidity’s messaging application. Exactly how close we are to legitimate telepathic communication was unfortunately missing in the Keynote, but the promise is there.

Lucidity is a computer unprecedented in power and sensitivity, providing expansive fertile territory for new explorers of the technology. The new era of PCs and VR have passed—Lucidity is the new wild west for developers.

And so far, it would appear Lucid wishes to allow and encourage developers to work to his newest computer’s level: Lucidity was rolled out with a guaranteed shelf life of five years. God knows what you’ll be switching to in the sixties.

In these early days, it’s hard to know what applications Lucidity will evolve to have. Even more open to speculation are the implications, which are sure to be a near-constant conversation from today onward.

“From today onward”. It’s a rare and awesome occasion when humanity can say this so profoundly. Lucid’s Christmas gift to the world has been unwrapped, whether we like it or not.

The first Lucidity will ship in February. Until then, if you are living in New Idaho, you may want to drop a hint to one of your peers at the Labs—rumor has it that Lucidity has already been passed out and is in use by Lab employees.

II. Source: Reefer, Banananut. “What We Expect from Lucidity” The Ringworm. 25 December 2054

Hello again! It’s your local bloodthirsty newshound, Banananut Reefer, here to report on the new sensation that’s sweeping the nation.

That’s right, we’re talking about Lex Lucid’s latest: Lucidity.

Now, Lucidity basically takes a look at all of your unfiltered thoughts, and somehow organizes them into doing different tasks.

After the announcement this Christmas, The Ringworm sent a team of reporters to camp out on the mountain ring outside the Labs and see what they could find out. After staring at what was mostly just an empty building for seven hours and losing four toes to frostbite, they decided to report back. Here’s the applications we know from the Event and the ones we speculate are coming in the future.

Lucid Dream: Now, Lucidity is, more than anything, a deep probe into your disturbed psyche. Nothing points this out more so than “Lucid Dream,” An application native to the device that allows you to play back those unacknowledged scenes from the depth of your consciousness.

Lucid Creation: If you can think it, you can make it—Lucid plans to help more people come to terms with the harsh reality that they lack imagination in addition to skill.

Lucid Idea: Well, we finally did it—we are getting to the point as a society where we can read each other’s minds. I wonder if we can still use autocorrect? In the meantime, Paranoia is expected to skyrocket among those who already thought their friends were talking behind their back.

Lucid Potato Patch: Judging by our researcher’s observations, there is a large patch of soil near the front parking lot of Lucid Labs. This being Idaho, we at The Ringworm believe it likely has to do with a Lucidity application that allows you to grow your own potato patch with energy from the mind.

Loosened Bowel Movement: There’s only one explanation our researchers could think of for why they hardly saw anyone at the Labs—chronic constipation! We can only hope for an app in Lucidity that allows you to save the experience of all your best bowel movements in order to play them back again later in all their glory. The fact that so many workers at the Labs appear to be out due to constipation, we must conclude that they are blocked up by anticipation (consticipation?) for the app, which we have guessed will be called “Loosened Bowel Movement.”

Lucid Bank: It’s not a new technology these days without a new form of cryptocurrency. We expect the Bitcoin of Lucidity will be based on your thoughts—if you invest more time mining other people’s thoughts, you can get more thought coins, which you can invest as you would any currency. Hopefully nobody sends any dirty thoughts over to muck up the whole system!

At the end of the day, you never really know where all this hype is going to end up. We can only hope for the apps that we were promised and the apps that we have speculated on. Here at The Ringworm, we’ve been paralyzed with despair after forgetting a defecation we expected to remember forever. Now that Lucidity promises to change that, we will be wearing that patch on our temple all day every day.

EDIT: Sources have confirmed that Lucid Labs employees were given the day off for Christmas, though we see no reason to rule out the idea that diarrhea was still in full force for many employees

III. Source: America, Tommy. “So Long Self-Control, Hello Mind Control.” Truth Quest. 25 December 2054.

Well, folks, the day is nearly here. We’ve been calling it or a while, but the powers that be have made a move today that could very well put the free man in checkmate.

I’m talking, of course, about Lucidity—the huge Christmas announcement, the world-flipping new technology. Some people are excited as hell to get their hands on it and think sweet nothings to their little boyfriends and girlfriends, not knowing all the while these trivial pursuits will be causing them their freedom and the freedom of everyone in America as we know it.

When Snowden told us all the NSA was spying on us, we just shrugged our shoulders and moved on. When we learned the social media companies were getting rich off selling our information, we shook our heads, but we just kept scrolling. Sure, the Data Privacy Act of 2025 was a small victory, but just because it’s harder for companies to sell our information doesn’t mean it’s not out there.

After all, we’ve been running around with cameras attached to our heads for nearly 20 years—what more could the puppet masters want?

Turns out the answer is a resounding “YOUR MIND.” Fake news and fastidiously calculated manipulation on an extreme scale wasn’t enough. Now the powers that be are going to look past our behaviors and into our thoughts themselves.

I don’t need to tell you how dangerous that is. I don’t need to, but I’m going to anyway. If the NSA and major corporations (and their marketing teams) have access to our thoughts, they can finally carry out the mass manipulation the elites and the American government have been planning since the days of the robber barons.

We’ve known it for a while here at Truth Quest, but now there’s no question. The play is just way too obvious. New Idaho is an incubator for the new world leaders. It’s a haven for globalists. Why else do you think the federal government gives Mayor Krispyman special treatment? Why did America and Idaho just sit back and allow the “City of the Century” to be built, along with a hyper train through the mountains and a freakin’ jungle?

All I can think is, you get a lot of passes when you’re in on the game. Now that it’s more evident than ever that Lex Lucid is in the game, it’s official: Lucid is not the “Jobs of our lifetime”. He’s the Zuckerberg.

Slowly but surely, technology is ramping up to allow the globalists to take power over the world through taking power over the individual. Don’t let your mind be taken captive. Fight back! Don’t give up your mind to those whose only goals are to manipulate you and take over the world! Boycott Lucidity and boycott Lucid Labs!

IV. Source: Thompson, Acacia. “Penny For Your Thoughts.” The Midcentury Ungrateful. 26 December 2054.

So this is where capitalism leads to. Trust me, I’m as surprised as you are that it’s hung in there so long—guess it just goes to show the ever-powerful force of greed.

What the “Free Market” has decided we all need now is a way to communicate with objects and each other with our minds. That’s right, yesterday Lex Lucid took to stage to reveal “Lucidity”, the newest computer from Lucid Labs that syncs your brainwaves up to your glasses.

That’s right—two channels wasn’t enough, so we made 500. Boxy TVs were too ugly. We made them flat. Then we put more flat screens in our pockets. But it was too much of a hassle to keep pulling something out of your pocket all day—so we started to wear these computers on our face, with the screen projected right into our eye. And now, if we weren’t lazy enough, we have been given the ultimate convenience: A computer that reads your freaking mind.

Now, we’ve known for a while that capitalism can’t hold up. We just keep using more and more resources to make more products to make people more lazy so they keep buying more and more and depleting our Earth’s resources.

That’s how you end up with jungles in the middle of America.

But now the capitalists have taken it one step farther and one step closer to totally controlling us: A computer that gets inside our very heads.

Just think what ads will start to look like: Pretty soon, marketing companies will know about your perfect woman. They will know what your dreams are. What motivates you. They will start selling it to you in their virtual ads. They will start using characters from your own head to manipulate you into buying what they tell you you need.

Not to mention how much money Lucid Labs and friends will get from selling your information to these marketing companies—as there is no doubt they will do it.

So, is Lucidity something you need? Well, we’re not so blind as to think that this impressive (to say the least) new technology won’t be widely used and applied by the masses. So you might be leaving yourself out.

My question for you, however, is why you want to be in in the first place. Why spend time playing this useless game of making the fat cats fatter at the expense of your health, wallet, and those around you?

It’s hard to say, but it seems America’s here to stay. We’re hoping the tragedy of Lucidity will be the straw that breaks capitalism’s back, but we’re not holding our breath.

#New Idaho #Ben Vizy #New Novel #Writing #Writing Community #Novelist #Novel Writing #2054 #Augmented Reality #Futurism #Reaction #Fake News #Lucidity #Media Coverage

0 notes