kaeya desi prince of my dreams š„°
My child is autistic. He doesnāt do well with change. Even little things that would be meaningless to most people.
For example, his hairbrush was getting old and worn. He had chewed the end of it. The cats had chewed some bristles. It was dirty and dusty. But I didnāt say anything. Because itās his hairbrush.
Finally, he said he thinks itās time for a new brush. Ok, I say, weāll put it on the shopping list, and get one next time weāre in town.
So we go to town and we go to the store. There are many hairbrushes to choose from. He picks one and they even have it in his favorite color. We buy it, take it home, and remove the packaging.
I go to put it on the shelf where the old hairbrush is. Can we throw out the old one, I ask.
Thatās when he stops. Thatās when he freezes and gets a momentary look of panic on his face. Throw out the old one? That hadnāt occurred to him.
Because hereās the thing. Hair brushing is a part of his morning routine. And not just hair brushing, but hair brushing with that particular brush. To most people, the act of hair brushing is the routine, but not the brush itself. The objects are interchangeable. But not to my child. Not to someone with autism. The brush itself is just as important as the act of brushing.
So I take a breath. I put the old brush down. Think about it, I say. Let me know tomorrow what you want to do with this brush.
He decides. He realizes keeping an old hairbrush is not necessary. But itās still important to him. So he asks if I can cut off one bristle. To keep. As a memory of the old hairbrush.
I donāt laugh. I donāt tell him itās silly. I respect his need. I cut off the bristle. He puts it in his treasure box, along side some smooth rocks, beads, sparkly decals, a Santa Claus charm from a classmate, a few other things meaningful to him.
He throws the old hairbrush away himself. He is able to move on, and accept the change.
just realised the most important one didn't attach to the last post
(or: Neil Gaiman, Your Brain is Gorgeous But I Have Cracked Your Sneaky Little Code And Have You Dead To Rights*) (*Maybe)
***
Soooooo I just spent the last 48 hours having a BREATHTAKING GALAXY BRAIN EPIPHANY about Good Omens Season 2 and feverishly writing a fuckin16,000 word essay about the incredible magic trick that @neil-gaiman pulled off.Ā
Yes, itās long, but I PROMISE your brains will explode. Do you want to know how magic works? Do you want to know what Metatronās deal is (Iām like 99% sure of this and itās EXTREMELY FUCKING GOOD)? Do you want to know about the Mystery of the Vanishing Eccles Cakes and the big fat beautiful clue I found in the opening credits? Do you go through the whole inventory of Chekovās Firearm & Heavy Artillery Discount Warehouse?Ā
Here is the essay, go read it: https://docs.google.com/document/d/193IXS11XN46lziHRb6eUpM17yK0BQkRqke1Wh64A_e0/ When ur done u can tell me Iām an insane crackpot, and u know what, i wonāt even be offended
In case you donāt know whether you want to bother reading the whole enormous thing on google docs, Iāve put the first couple sections of it under the cut. JUST TRUST ME OKAY, HEAR ME OUT, THIS IS VERY EXTREMELY COOL, NEIL IS GOOD AT HIS JOBā
Keep reading
For @crimson-chains . They have mind-blown us with an amazing art, awesome storyline, and with a cliffhanger that leaves thousands wanting more from an intrepid police/crime duo.
I chose the name āCrimson Chainā specifically because Iām familiar with the Red String of Fateā¦story, and I thought of Viktor and Yuuri. How their strings collided one day and ever since, they keeping find themselves being drawn back to the other until theyāre tangled and laughing in each otherās arms.
What if the story/song had a darker ending instead�
Page 1 of CCās amazing YoI comic
when you run into the vigilante who incapacitated you the night beforeĀ š
based on my lovely friend giaās ( @sascake ) incredible fic starring pro hero!shouto and vigilante!izuku,Ā āiāll be your biggest kept secret and your biggest mistakeā which you all should read bc i promise you wonāt think about anything else afterā¦
** Permission to post it was granted by the artist Do not repost/edit the art without permission Please, support the artist on their page too **
Artist : @nummeun
Source
Hi Cross-san dearest (ļ½”āā½āļ½”)ā” I'm a big fan of your Narumitsu artworks. Is it ok if I could request a Narumitsu artwork? Just a simple one where a tired Chief Prosecutor Miles got home and sees a shirtless Phoenix sleeping on their bed looking so angelic, he can't resist but kiss Phoenix on the cheek. But Feenie woke up, straddled his lap and kissed Miles on the lips. Sorry for the long post, but I just felt so happy in seeing episode 7 of the AA Anime. Thanks and take care. (Ā“ ā½ļ½).ćļ½ā”
Ask and you shall receive, especially on them lawyers pfft.Ā
And good night to you as well.
Autumn
Dr. Noah and Zayne go back to visit Skyhaven University and watch the First-Year Medical Student Oath Ceremony
Character ages:
Rafayel age: 23
Zayne age: 25 (or 26 if past September)
Sylus age: 27
Xavier age: ā36ā, turns ā37ā in October
Zayne receives the Starcatcher Award
Zayne receives the Linde Award
Dr. Cooper becomes an attending surgeon at Akso Hospital
Character ages:
Rafayel age: 22
Zayne age: 25
Sylus age: 26
Xavier age: ā36ā
Spring, around New Years Day:
Arthur visits a cemetery with his granddaughter and spots Xavier there
This year, the Chronorift Catastrophe was 11 years ago
Character ages:
Rafayel: 20, turns 21 in March
Zayne: 23, turns 24 in September
Sylus: 24, turns 25 in April
Xavier: ā35ā, turns ā36ā in October
Zayne graduates from Skyhaven Medical School, obtained his MD, and started working at Akso Hospital in the Division of Cardiac Surgery
Dr. Joelle becomes Chief of Division of Cardiac Surgery
Zayne assists at the battle on Mt. Eternal, providing medical support
Dr. William (from the Evol Special Rescue Unit) dies on Mt. Eternal fighting Wanderers
Character Ages:
Rafayel: 19
Zayne: 22
Sylus: 23
Xavier: ā34ā
The year Dr. Noah says Skyhaven University's cafeteria was probably renovated
Character ages:
Rafayel: 16
Zayne: 19
Sylus: 20
Xavier: ā31ā
Linkon City is mostly rebuilt after the Catastrophe
Philo flower shop has opened where Sweetie's Cake Shop once stood; also serves as Jeremiah's residence
Character ages:
Rafayel: 13
Zayne: 16
Sylus: 17
Xavier: ā28ā
Hunter's Association officially established on January 1st of this year
Azure Square is newly rebuilt
Zayne starts studies at Skyhaven Medical School
Character ages:
Rafayel: 11
Zayne: 14
Sylus: 15
Xavier: ā26ā
UNICORNS established
The Deepspace Tunnel appeared above Linkon City
The Chronorift Catastrophe
Grandma Josephine takes protaganist in and becomes her guardian. Protaganist age is said to be "7"
Ruins of Lemuria discovered by an archeological team from the Deepspace Academy (Ms. Eleanor, Yennifer, Frederick, and Professor Sean)
Lumiere first emerges
Summer
Jeremiah starts actually living at his rented house
The Wanderer attack
Sweetie's Cake Shop is destroyed
Bella's death
Character ages:
Rafayel: 10
Zayne: 12, turns 13 in September
Sylus: 14
Xavier: ā24ā, turns ā25ā in October
Winter:
Xavier fakes his death
Character ages:
Rafayel: 9
Zayne: 12
Sylus: 13
Xavier: ā24ā
Summer:
Jeremiah: a friend of Xavier's. They're both from the Backtrackers
Bella: works at Sweetieās Cake Shop with her father
Three days after New Years Day:
āNoahā retrieves the missing Archives file from Xavier's mailbox where he left it for him. He wants to use it for a new identity.
Xavier refers to āNoahā as his āformer friendā and the end of that conversation
New Years Day:
Xavier decides it's time for him to leave the Evol Special Task Force
Character ages:
Rafayel: 8, turns 9 in March
Zayne: 11, turns 12 in September
Sylus: 12, turns 13 in April
Xavier: ā23ā, ā24ā in October
Dr. Joelle starts as a fellow at Akso Hospital
Spring:
Xavier joins the Bloomshore District Evol Special Task Force, Team 013
Xavier is said to be 23 years old
Arthur's 9th year as Captain of Team 013
Arthur's 16th year as a police officer with Evol Special Task Force
Character ages:
Rafayel: 8
Zayne: 10, turns 11 in September
Sylus: 12
Xavier: ā23ā
Dr. Joelle graduates from Beiyang University
Character ages:
Rafayel: 5
Zayne: 8
Sylus: 9
Arthur is injured on a mission. Significantly dismissed his mobility
Character ages:
Rafayel: 3
Zayne: 6
Sylus: 7
Rafayel is born on March 6th
Character ages:
Zayne: 3
Sylus: 4
Arthur becomes Captain of Evol Special Task Force Team 013
Character ages:
Zayne: 2
Sylus: 3
In 2033, Arthur says SD19940122 was an event that happened ādecades agoā
Zayne is born in September
When Team 013 had last had a new recruit
Dr Joelle begins studies at Beiyang University
Character ages:
Sylus: 1
Sylus is born in April
Arthur begins his career as a police officer with the Evol Special Task Force
White Bear founded (a company that sells cup noodles)
Traceback II crash landed on Earth
"Jeremiah" came to Earth with Xavier/the Backtrackers
Lizio Auctions founded
As the one time every four years that everyone watches figure skating is finally here, Iāve taken it as my God-given duty to educate you guys about the complete and utter CLOWNERY and the corruption that goes on daily in the Russian figure skating scene. Iām not joking when I say this shit is like bad reality TV. A famous coach has a cult following. Politicians get asked about coaches feuding. Putin, the president of Russia, got mad over unfair scoring and dissed a Canadian skater on live TV. Itās insane.
And there is a LOT of drama going on here, so Iāll try to explain it just in time for Olympics so you guys can understand why you are almost definitely not going to see a single ladiesā medallist over the age of 17 years old this Olympics (or possibly ever again).
If the only time that you tune in to figure skating is once every four years, hereās how things are going to go. Youāre going to watch the 2022 Olympics. Youāre going to casually watch the ladiesā figure skating segments. And if youāre a little bit observant, youāre going to think: āWhy is every single medallist under the age of 18 years old? And why are they all Russian?ā And if you do your research, youāll see that not a single girl over the age of 18 years old who is non-Russian has won gold in ladiesā figure skating for the past two winter Olympics. Why is this?
Well, it all started with Evgenia Medvedeva, one of the most famous figure skaters in the world. (If your last interaction with figure skating was with Yuri!!! On Ice in 2016, sheās that girl who wore a Victuuri shirt on the famously homophobic Russian national television, got illustrated into YOI official art, and did a routine to Sailor Moon. So. Sheās really awesome and my favourite.)
Anyway, Evgenia won everything in the 2016 and 2017 seasons. She completed a Grand Slam twice, which is when a skater wins literally every major competition, at the ages of 16 and 17. Those two years were called the Evgenia dominance era, because she just kept winning. It was insane. She was Miss Stability because she literally never fell, she was reliable, she was unbeatable, she was the favourite to win the 2018 Olympics.
And then, just in time for the Olympics, at the old age of 18 years old, she started to fail.
The first time she fell in competition after two long years of straight clean programs, people thought it was a fluke. But then she fell again, and again, and again. And her younger, less injured teammate, 15yo Alina Zagitova, started to take the spotlight. Alina wasnāt struggling with back problems or a broken foot like Evgenia. Alina was born in the right year, at the right time, which made her 15 years old just in time to qualify for the Olympics, and she won the gold medal for ladiesā figure skating. Meanwhile, the favourite to win the Olympics won silver, being pushed aside for her younger and healthier teammate.
Now you might think, wow, thatās really sad. But it was just a one-time thing, right? Alina will surely go on to have the long and fruitful career that Evgenia, by some fluke of the universe, didnāt get to have. Right?
Wrong. Alina retires at the ripe age of 17 years old after peaking at 15 and the figure skating world. Goes. Crazy, because now people are beginning to notice a pattern. It started with Yulia Lipnitskaya, 15 years old at the Sochi Olympics, who skated the best programs of her entire life and retired soon after. It continued with Evgenia, who peaked at 16 and 17 and then developed chronic injuries that make her unable to turn her back to the left (a horrifying statement she revealed in a recent interview), and then with Alina, who skated her best at 15 and ātook a breakā at 17, which fans have dubbed the āexpiration dateā.
Now, you might be remembering the figure skating greats like Yuna Kim, Michelle Kwan, Mao Asada. They didnāt retire at 17. This is not normal. This was not even close to the norm ten years ago, but now weāre heading into Beijing 2022 and a 15 year old is the favourite to win gold. So what is the the common factor that caused all these skaters to retire at 17, 18, 19?
The answer? Eteri Tutberidze, a famous Russian coach with a monopoly on ladiesā figure skating. Her students, which include Yulia, Evgenia, and Alina, have won literally every single competition under the sun for the past few years. And one by one, without fail, all her students have broken their bodies by the time they reach 17-18. She has never been able to successfully coach a student over 18 years old, but she doesnāt need to, because when one girl gets too old, three will come to replace her. If youāre talking solely about results, then sure, Eteri is a great coach. When her students shine, they shine bright. Theyāre one-season wonders, winning everything. But theyāre one-season wonders, so after a few seasons, theyāre replaced by the newest girl, the girl whoās 15 at the right time, younger and less injured. Why is this? Why donāt these skaters have longevity?
Well, itās because of the body type you need to have to land jumps in figure skating. In skating, there are jumps called triples (where you rotate three times in the air) and quads (where you rotate four times). Quads were practically unheard of in ladiesā figure skating until 2018. Thatās how recent they are. A quad in ladiesā fs has never even been landed at the Olympics before. This is because quads are insanely hard to do, and normally they require a lot of muscle, strength and grit to power through the four rotations in the air. Before 2018, the last quad jump had been landed by Miki Ando in 2002. 16 years before the next quad.
Before 2018, the highest technical jumps women did were the triples. Then Alexandra Trusova (aka Quad Queen Sasha Trusova aka the one to root for in the 2022 Olympics) came along and fucked shit up landed a quad toe loop at the age of 13. Sasha is the first female skater to land the quad Lutz, quad flip, and quad toe loop jumps, the second to land the quad Salchow (after Miki Ando), and the first to land two and three ratified quads in a free skate. She started the Quad Revolution and basically ensured that all the girls competing with her had to have quad jumps or a triple axel in order to win over her. And they did. Anna Shcherbakova, Kamila Valieva, Sofia Akatyeva, Adeliia Petrosian, all started landing quads too.
And thatās all well and good and all, yay for technical advancements or whatever, except that the reason quads started booming in the ladiesā was because a certain coach had figured out that you donāt need to be made of muscle, or have years of training, or experience to land a quad.
No. You just need very, very low body weight.
Yeah. Now you see where Iām going.
Girls have started landing quads like never before. At the junior levels (>15yos), itās become commonplace to see Russian preteen girls train quads as if theyāre jumping machines. Teenage girls have the perfect body type to quickly rotate four times in the air- a slender frame, narrow hips and short height. And once they hit puberty, itās over. Quads rely in pulling in all your body weight as closely as possible to your centre, allowing you to maximise your speed of rotation- but you canāt pull in hips or a chest. Thatās why most female figure skaters lose their jumps after puberty, and why so far only teenage girls have managed to land quads. And how do you delay puberty as long as possible so you can keep winning for as long as you possibly can? Well, itās simple. You just donāt eat.
Even before the Quad Revolution, Tutberidzeās skaters relied on their low body weight to do triple jumps so much that during the 2014 Olympics, 15yo Yulia Lipnitskaya had to subsist on a diet of entirely powdered substances. The girl did not eat a single tangible meal the entire time. And by the time the 2018 Olympics rolled around, Tutberidze had forbidden 18yo Evgenia and 15yo Alina from drinking water for fear that a few grams of water weight might affect their aerodynamics. Alina mentioned in an interview that they could only rinse their mouths out with water and spit it back out.
The thing about quads is that no one really knows the long-term effects they can have on these teenage girlsā health, as the oldest girl to land regular quads turns 18 this year in 2022. However, Evgenia Medvedeva only did triple-triple jumps her entire career, and she ended up with a broken foot and canāt even turn her back to the left. So. Whatever the long-term effects are, theyāre going to be bad. 15yo Daria Usacheva was supposed to be a strong contender this year, but a hip fracture during practice at the NHK Trophy made her unexpectedly withdraw. Alena Kanysheva lands a quad at 14 and retires at 16. And still, still even younger girls will come to replace them and drive older skaters who canāt land quads anymore out of the sport. Ladiesā figure skating has turned into a sport where 15 year olds dominate for one or two seasons, and get traded in for newer and less injured skaters.
And itās not like the girls themselves arenāt painfully aware of this- Sofia Samodelkina barely missed the cutoff age for the Beijing 2022 Olympics at 14 years old, and she revealed in an interview that she prays every night for them to be postponed to 2023 because she knows that when she turns 18yos in 2026, she wonāt be able to compete with the younger and stronger 15yos. Evgenia knew that she couldnāt stay with Eteri once she turned 18, because the technique no longer worked, so she left Eteri to be coached by Brian Orser (but forgot to send Eteri flowers for thanking her for being such a great coach so Eteri went on a smear campaign against her and showed Evgenia ghosting her texts on Russian national television). Then judges started underscoring Evgenia just for the crime of training under the āwrongā coach, so she had to return to Eteri.
So if everyone knows that this is going on- if everyone is aware that figure skating is built on the broken bodies of young girls who sacrifice their long-term health for the sport only to be cast aside at 17 years old- is anyone doing anything about Tutberidzeās borderline abusive training methods?
Well. The ISU (international skating union) gave Eteri an award for Best Coach, if thatās what you mean by ādoing something about itā. Because apparently they donāt give a fuck that these girls are being used like products and discarded just as quickly as they come. They just care that her girls win.
And win they do. Enter: the 3A, the trio of elite Russian figure skaters Anna Shcherbakova, Aliona Kostornaia and Alexandra Trusova (nicknamed the 3A because all their names start with an a but everyone calls Alexandra as Sasha).
The 3A won every. Major. Competition. During the 2020 season. They didnāt let anyone else on that damn podium. They were playing musical chairs with those three podium spots. The main surprise when you watched fs wasnāt āomg who will podiumā but āomg in which order will 3A podiumā. And if you recall, 2020 is the year our reigning Olympic champion Alina Zagitova turned 17, so she was already on her way out. Anna was 15, Sasha was 15 and Aliona was 16- optimal ages in figure skating. Aliona didnāt have quads, but she had a beautiful triple axel and artistry, while Sasha had pure raw athleticism and Anna fell somewhere in the middle. But unfortunately, they werenāt born in the right year. By the time the qualifiers for the Beijing Olympics rolled around, Anna and Sasha were 17 and Aliona was 18, and a new face entered and broke nine world records in her debut season alone- Kamila Valieva.
Kamila is, supposedly, better than all the girls who came before her. (Even though I still like Aliona better.) She has the artistry and consistency that Sasha lacked and the quads that Aliona lacked. Sheās the full package of everything a skater should be, and sheās 15 years old in an Olympic year. She has it all, and tbh doesnāt really have any other competition. Anna and Sasha are still leagues ahead of everyone else but if theyāre as unreachable as kings, Kamila is as unbeatable as a god. Kamila, Sasha and Anna are the three skaters representing Russia at Beijing (Aliona withdrew from this season due to a hand fracture sheās ānot allowed to talk aboutā.). Anna is almost definitely injured nine ways to hell, Sasha is probably injured too, so Kamila is probably the only one whoās like. Even moderately healthy out of the Russian girls, if you discount the fact that sheās like severely underweight. Idk if sheāll be the one to break the cycle, but hopefully this monopoly on ladiesā fs ends soon and new rules are put in place to stop girls giving themselves chronic injuries by the time they turn 16.
Anyway, thatās the summary on the figure skating drama. Please cheer for Sasha and Anna! I want Sasha to be the first person to land a quad at Olys because she was the one who started this whole quad revolution so itās only right that she should finish it. Wow this took me a long time to write and we only covered the tip of the iceberg. Hope you guys enjoy the Beijing Olympics btw happy cny ē„大家ę°å¹“åæ«ęØļæ¼, čŗ«é«å„åŗ· (god knows they need it) åæę³äŗęļæ¼ etc etc
Edit: Hi, itās op here! I regret my poor choice of words in calling this as ādramaā, I meant to refer to the ādramaā as all the issues I mentioned in the first paragraph like Putin dissing a Canadian skater unfair judging scores home bias etc etc, but I guess it was misread as the fact that I was calling this institutionalised child abuse ādramaā. I wrote this post to bring attention to the child abuse happening because I think itās wrong and unfair that no one is doing anything about it and I do NOT mean to trivialise it as drama. Sorry this was such a poor choice of words cuz I was fr gonna talk about those whole other stories but then I got sidetracked with this whole thing and I forgot to change the words ādramaā ššš Thank you so much for understanding ššš
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