#create high-performing individuals and teams

[thecoachingdirectory]

You are invited! Join our dynamic DISC Flow Fusion Leadership Collective Xperience and level up your leadership skills and journey! This event will be on 22/02/2024, 9:00 am-3:30 pm. This 1-day workshop will gather a community of aspiring and seasoned leaders to explore DISC and Emotional Intelligence’s powerful applications in the workplace. Limited spaces available. Hurry and secure your spot! Register now!

#disc #workshop #events in australia #upcoming event #thecoachingdirectory #emotional intelligence #leadership skills #effective leadership #improve your leadership skills #leveraging different leadership styles #create high-performing individuals and teams

[thatchickwiththecamera]

WDYWFM? - Pt. 1 (UPDATED!)

Synopsis: The European leg of the Concrete Forever tour marks one year since Tyler Garrett joined the Bad Omens media team. A lot can change over the course of a year. New experiences, new friendships, and new discoveries emerge.

Pairing: Noah Sebastian x OC

NOTE: Part Two is coming soon! Had to update and edit part one!

Cross-posted on AO3 (thatchickwiththecamera)

MASTERLIST

Based on an idea I got from seeing this video.

Tag List: @sundamariis, @fastjelly-fish, @lilylovesdew, @narcissisticbehavior81

Tonight was night five of the European leg of the 2024 Concrete Forever tour and the end of January had marked one year since I had first joined the Bad Omens media crew. With the band's increase in popularity Bryan, the band's photographer and media director, decided it was time to expand the team going into Shiprocked so he could focus more carefully on planning and curating the media content produced and published for the band. 

So Bryan reached out to a friend in the music industry and asked if they knew of any photographers/videographers with a solid portfolio who were looking for a more permanent media production gig. That friend connected him to me and as they say, the rest is history. 

“Tyler! Did you finish up the edits for tonight's social post?” Bryan’s voice carried from the front of the crew bus to the back lounge where I sat backing up files to my external harddrive. 

“Yeah! They’re already in the dropbox!” I responded before ejecting my drive from my macbook and throwing them both back onto my bunk. 

I clipped my crew credentials with “CONCRETE FOREVER TOUR” and “TYLER GARRETT - MEDIA CREW” printed across the top and bottom through the belt loop of my jeans and slipped on my crew sweatshirt before walking toward the front of the bus. Bryan and Alana were standing over the main table and counter area double checking the batteries and the assortment of cameras we would be mounting in various parts of the stage for tonight's show along with our individual gear that would be on our person and laid out backstage for us to use throughout the show. 

The air once we stepped into the venue was buzzing with energy. I don’t know what it was about this leg of the tour, but it was like a switch was flipped. Ever since the first date in January opening for Bring Me The Horizon back in Cardiff there was this high that enveloped the entire group and it looked like no one would be coming down anytime soon. 

This energy was especially present in the band's lead singer, Noah. The usually stoic and serious persona he portrayed on stage was now replaced with one that roamed around the various levels of the stage doing jumping jacks, pushups, dances, and little vocal trills. 

After the first two shows, his antics even caused Poppy, our opener for this part of the tour, to completely abandon portraying her A.I. character like was originally planned for their performances of V.A.N.  Instead, she joined in Noah’s antics and even introduced the world to this little handshake that they had originally created during rehearsals leading up to the tour. 

Life in between gigs had been lively as well since the start of the new year. After each show when everything was packed up and the load outs were completed, the band and crew for both Bad Omens and BMTH would venture to one of the local pubs and celebrate with a few beers and carbonated beverages before loading up on the buses and venturing off to the next city. 

Until joining the Bad Omens crew, I would usually keep to myself in between shows while touring - choosing to prioritize edits, catalog files, and update my individual socials when not trying to finish a book on my Kindle or finish a show on a random streaming service. 

The first few months of touring after Shiprocked changed all of that and a few of the crew and band made it their mission to pull me out of the confines of my comfort zone and my regular routine. Over the course of the past year, Bryan has pushed me to learn and develop my photo and video skills far past where I ever thought they would go. Matt started teaching me front of the house controls, he now hounds me with daily racoon memes, and I in turn buy him random Dr. Pepper merch. Steven taught me all about the finer side of wristwatches, NBA basketball, and the intricacies of running merch. Alana quickly became one of my best friends and has balanced her assistant tour manager duties well alongside keeping me sane as the only other female member of the media team and crew. 

Folio decided that I absolutely had to learn how to fish when one of our venues had a lake nearby, even making me kiss the smallmouth bass that I caught before he threw it back in citing that it was tradition with your first fish. He also dared me to smoke my first joint, which caused me to hack up a lung because I somehow inhaled wrong. Nicholas helped me design a few tattoo ideas before inking my forearm and starting what will eventually become a full sleeve up my right arm. Jolly taught me a bunch of guitar riffs and how to cuss in Swedish (which I do entirely too often now), and Noah surprised me with the hidden talent of being a pool shark and we ended up becoming quick friends to the point where he is now my partner in crime hustling people out of their money when the crew goes out to bars. I also learned that while he hates it when people try to scare and prank him, he loves to scare and prank others. 

Which is why, as expected, throughout three out of the first four shows of the European leg, Noah made it his mission to try and scare me at least once per show mainly during the song transitions when I would try to quickly get from one side of the stage to the next during the blackouts. In Berlin, it was during the transition after “Nowhere to Go” when I was coming down from the second level of the stage after retrieving the camera that was filming Folio play. Luckily I had handed the camera and its tripod down to Alana behind the platform before descending the steps in time for Noah to jump out at the bottom already wearing his ski mask for V.A.N. 

I jumped, skipping a step on the way down, and felt a set of arms grab me and hold me back up before I could fall too far forward. I remember yelling ‘fucking hell’ in swedish and looking up to see Noah with a shit eating grin peaking through the mask and hearing Jolly laugh at my use of the words. I grabbed his mask and yanked on it so it was crooked on his face before I ran behind the platform to the other side of the stage where I had left my camera gear. I heard him let out a laugh and a few cuss words of his own as he struggled to fix the mask and climb the steps up to his spot on the platform before Poppy started singing. 

Night one in Cologne, I was mainly in the photo pit for the majority of the show, while Bryan and Alana were the ones roaming the stage. I kept a gear bag tucked behind one of the few big boxes we had on either side of the stage. In it, I had my spare batteries, my water bottle, and the 360 camera on an extension pole. The plan for this show was to focus on crowd shots and footage along with regular low-angle stage shots. While I got amazing shots of the guys performing and some hilarious shots of a fan crowd surfing in an inflatable shark suit. Noah lost any possible opportunity offered for pranking during the show. 

On night two in Cologne, he made up for the missed opportunity. During the transition between “Artifical Suicide” and “Like A Villan,” I quickly ran to the media team roadcase set up behind the guitar stage case and tech area to get a quick drink of water and change out a lens. As I was kneeling down in front of the case and had just finished switching the lenses, I felt a pair of hands grab my shoulders. Luckily all the equipment was out of my hands because the sudden motion made me jump and fall back on my heels, causing me to bump into something, well someone, behind me. I let out a string of curse words, this time in English, and tilted my head back to see Noah, now without his mask, trying to hold back a laugh as he smiled down at me. I let out an annoyed sign and rolled my eyes. He gave my shoulder a squeeze before disappearing back out onto the stage right as the song began. 

In Munich, he chose the “Miracle” break as his time to strike. Only this time he stepped up his game. While I was switching out gear and changing my settings from photo to video, I set everything on a storage case under the second level platform and stood up to stretch a bit since this break was the more lengthy of the two. After I finished trying rid my shoulders of the tension that had built up from holding a camera in front of my face for a hour, I felt an arm wrap across the front of my collarbones and pulled me back into them while the person's other hand took one of the band's athletic water bottles and sprayed it down the rear collar of my crew hoodie. I squirmed and let out a loud gasp as the shock of the icey cold water briefly hit the back of my neck before I managed to wriggle away. I turned and as expected was greeted by a sweaty Noah smiling down at me trying to hold back laughter. 

“You little shit!” I shouted before quickly grabbing the water bottle from his hand and pointed it at him spraying him with the same icy cold water. 

He started swatting at the spray, laughing as his long thin fingers did nothing to block the liquid. He reached out and grabbed my wrist and I quickly tried to switch the bottle to my other hand but he was too quick, capturing that wrist as well before I could aim the bottle at his face again. I laughed and tried to pull away but he pulled me toward him and pinned my wrists against his chest trying to render the “weapon” he introduced inoperable. 

The laughter between us suddenly died off. The height difference between my 5’1” and his 6’3'' became very clear and his chin practically touched his chest as he gazed down at me. We stood there for what felt like an eternity, brown eyes connected with blue. He loosened his grip on my wrists slightly but neither of us made any attempt to move.  

The arena suddenly felt very warm and I don’t think I could blame it on the array pyrotechnics used during the show. I don’t know what to call this sudden shift in the air between us, but all I know is it caused something to flutter in my stomach and that scared the hell out of me. So I did the first thing I could think of, I diffused an intense moment with humor. I squeezed the water bottle that was still in my hand and the last remnants of water from the bottle hit Noah’s chin and neck. The shock of the cold liquid caused him to step back and release my wrists. I immediately missed the contact, but I needed to get away from this situation. 

“Shit that really is cold!” He laughed, turning to grab one of the black towels we had on hand backstage and started to dry off the water. 

When he turned to offer me the towel I had already retrieved my camera and fled to the other side of the stage wondering what the fuck had just happened. 

During the day off between Munich and Zurich, I kept myself busy editing, organizing, and uploading photo content to the media team drive and to my own socials. I had gained a considerable amount of followers since joining the Bad Omens team and while I enjoyed seeing the reaction and appreciation the guys' fans had when I posted new content, I was also starting to see some of the reasons why the guys like to take social media breaks as often as they do. 

Editing was one of my favorite parts of being a photographer and with us starting this European leg off with four back-to-back shows, I hadn’t had time to pause and really work my magic. So that is what I designated as my mission for this day off. I also may have used it as an excuse to avoid leaving the crew bus and chance any more contact with Noah. I was still trying to figure out if that flutter in my stomach was real or if it was just part of the adrenaline from a high energy concert and my body being attacked with ice cold water. 

Tonight, we were in Zurich and I was running around the stage at various times throughout the set while Bryan was down in the photo pit trying out some new ideas he had photos wise and finally having his turn with the 360 camera during a show.

During “What do you want from me?” I was standing in the wings to stage left filming Noah when he suddenly walked over to me in the middle of the second verse, grabbed my left wrist from where it held the side of my camera and pulled me out onto the stage. I keep filming as he releases my wrist and quickly slips his hand in mine while he continues to walk backward onto the stage. Once we were in the middle of the stage he started to spin in a circle with our connected hands extended in the middle. We spun around a few times before he started to jump while we were spinning causing his hair to bounce up and down on his head which I shakily captured on camera. The randomness of it all led to fits of laughter and caused Noah to mess up the last two lines of the verse. 

As the verse came to an end I expected him to let go and yell, “JUMP JUMP” like he usually does during the brief blackout. Instead, as the light goes out, I am yanked forward and feel a hand and the cool metal of a microphone against the side of my face, and a set of lips briefly collide with mine. I barely had time to process what happened before it ended, the lips were gone, the lights came back up, and Noah jumped onto the riser at the front of the stage to sing the rest of the song. I still held my camera up and panned to follow him trying to hide any reaction my face might show behind a veil of concentration. 

For the remainder of the show, I tried to avoid making any and all eye contact with Noah, who in turn tried his damndest to get me to look at him and gauge my reaction to what he did. He did it in a way that wasn’t too noticeable to the crowd by acting like he's playing up to the camera. My brain tried to process what had happened and what the hell it possibly meant over the course of the remaining ten songs in the set. 

Noah kissed me. 

On stage. 

In the middle of a show. 

Did one of the guys see? 

Oh Shit! Did anyone in the audience see?

The usual jump scare from the previous shows never came and my self-sabotaging brain was trying to solve the question of what everything meant. Kissing me to see my reaction instead of scaring me like usual? Was this real or was it just another prank?

__

Author's Note: I have never really written fanfiction before, especially for a band. So feedback is welcome! Part Two is coming soon!

Let me know in the comments if you’d like to be tagged.

#bad omens cult #bad omens #badomens #badomenscult #noah sebastian #noah sebastian x reader #noah sebastian x oc #noah sebastian fanfiction #noah sebastian fanfic #noah sebastian fic #bad omens x reader #bad omens x oc #bad omens fanfic #bad omens fanfiction #joakim jolly karlsson #jolly karlsson #nicholas ruffilo #nick folio #author: thatchickwiththecamera

[simsi45]

The Sims 4 Amber House Pack - PUBLIC RELEASE!

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE PATREON PAGE!

Oh...my...GOD!!! I can't believe this is actually happening....

After 3 years of hard work, I am here to welcome everyone to:

The Sims 4 Amber House Pack!

It's time to create your own mission style dream house, with this collection of 345 brand new and hella cool build/buy mode items, inspired by Dontnod's "Life is Strange: Before the Storm" game.

EARLY ACCESS: You can get the pack right now, on my PATREON on the 3-5$ tiers, or wait for the 12th of May for the public release!

Please read EVERYTHING included in the post as it contains useful information about the pack!

DISCLAIMER: Simsi45 or The Sims 4 Amber House Pack is NOT affiliated or associated with Electronic Arts, Square Enix, Deck Nine or Dontnod in ANY way. This is a purely fanmade pack made by me, a fan of both games that wanted to get the best of both worlds.

FEATURES:

 345 new items (including sofas, tables, decor, windows, doors and much much more!)

 Search for "amberhouse", "lis", "simsi45" to find most of the items in the build/buy catalog.

 Custom original names and descriptions. (the best I could come up with :P)

 Tons of custom recolors (based on original textures) to mix and match items more easily.

 Heavy modification on original meshes and textures, including english text turned into simlish.

 Everything has been playtested thoroughly.

 Included are a couple of easter egg items from The Sims 2 that I thought fit the theme well.

New lot I made showcased in the trailer and pics (found in the gallery under my tag @simsi45_mods) a recreation of Rachel Amber's house.

LOT INSTALLATION:

Included in the pack is the lot recreation of the Amber House that's featured in the pictures and videos.

You can get the lot by:

Using the gallery. Make a search under my EA id: @simsi45_mods and download the lot as usual. I've included customized pictures to identify my own lot more easily. Make sure you have the "enable custom content" tag ENABLED for the lot to show up in the results.

If you have difficulties using the gallery you can download the lot tray files from the bottom of the post, and move them inside your own tray folder. This can be found in your documents/electronic arts/the sims 4/ tray folder. This way you can install the lot without the need of the gallery.

NOTES:

~ The pack is in an EARLY-ACCESS STATE! I have dedicated a lot of time to test everything but I'm a team of just a single person. If you find any issues please let me know so I can take a look.

~ Because of the amount of items the size of the pack is quite big. I tried my best to make everything as compact as possible with the final size being 1.5 GB of required free space. 

~ The majority of the meshes and textures of these items are ripped straight from the LIS: Before the Storm game, and then each individual item (both mesh and textures) has been heavily modified and edited to fit and function properly within the Sims 4 game's engine. That's why some items will look identical to the original game, some look somewhat different, and some are brand new meshes I made using the original items.

~ Some of the original ripped meshes' poly counts were WAY too high so I had to lower the polygons so The Sims 4 wouldn't explode when filling a lot with them. I lowered the polygons and edited most of the items as much as possible without compromising their original look too much. In other words I tried to find the best balance between looks and performance and after lots of testing on my moderate PC system, I can confirm the game runs super smoothly on my end. 

BACKSTORY ABOUT THE PACK (no spoilers):

This pack started with an idea I got back in 2017 when I first played Life Is Strange Before The Storm. When visiting the Amber house, I immediately fell in love with it as I am huge fan of the craftsman architectural style, it's literally all I'd want my dream house to be. The art team has done an incredible job on it, and as I personally find the art style of the Life is Strange series and The Sims 4 to fit very well with each other, I wanted to make these assets available for The Sims 4. Of course back then this all seemed impossible, however a few years later in 2020 during quarantine I revisited the idea as it had been stuck on my wishlist ever since.

To make a long story short, this project has been in the works for about 3 years now, and after a lot of hard work, head scratching and quite a few sleepless nights I managed to overcome all the obstacles I came across (which were a lot mind you) and I'm honestly hoping you'll be as pleased with the results as I am. Seriously this exceeded my expectations as it started as a small little pack for my personal use, to what I'd consider an expansion pack's (or even more) worth of build/buy content.

INSTALLATION:

Due to the size of the pack I had to split it up into multiple parts. You will need a .RAR extractor unpack it. More specifically:

1 -> Download ALL 6 parts of the pack and put them ALL in the same folder. 2 -> Right click the 1st part .RAR file named "Simsi45 - The Sims 4 Amber House Pack.part1" and click "Extract Here"   3 -> Once that's finished a package file will appear, this is the entire pack and you can now move that into The Sims 4/Mods. Simple as that!

CREDITS & THANKS:

~Dontnod, Square Enix, Deck Nine for the original meshes & textures ripped from Life is Strange: Before the Storm that were used to create most of the items.

~EA for some meshes & textures used to convert some items from The Sims 2.

Special thank you to all the patreon members that stuck with me throughout me developing the pack. Although not many I really appreciate every single one of you for the support you've given me and for sticking around!

#ts4 #simsi45 #maxis match #the sims #ts4cc #architecture #life is strange #lis bts #rachel amber #chloe price #ts4cc maxis match #s4 maxis match #s4 custom content #s4 cc #sims 4 cc #lis #kate marsh #arcadia bay #simsi45 the sims cc #Youtube

[toomanywatchers]

My Thoughts on WatcherTV

Hi, I am here to put away my meme-making skills to express my genuine thoughts on Watcher’s announcement; WatcherTV. Before I get into it, this is for any of those at Team Watcher who might be seeing this message: Just know we love and support everything you do for us. Y’all truly do not get the credit you rightfully deserve. I hope with this change to a separate streaming platform you guys can create the content you want to make, pull in creators that you’ve always wanted to work with, and share voices/topics that may have not had the chance to shine because of YouTube’s heinous algorithm. I know myself, and many others, are excited to see what WatcherTV brings. For instance, I already watched Road Files and the trailer for Travel Season on the new platform. And guess what? I love it! I just love BTS-centric shows and seeing the vibes established on Travel Season. Along with more Lizzie/possibly-more-sightings-of-other-Team-Watcher-peeps content?!? If this is what holds for the future of WatcherTV- oh boy, do you already have me more on board than I already was.

I also send my sincerest regards too. We all know that the internet can be a negative space with many sharing their uncensored thoughts, and I hope none of you take the hate to heart. I also hope you can take the weekend to breathe, drink some water, spend time with loved ones, and celebrate this huge step you all are embarking on. I am truly excited to see what is to come on WatcherTV will be there with each step to support.

Now to my fellow fans of Watcher. I understand the concern and it is okay to have concerns. It shows that you truly care for Watcher as a company and don’t want anything negative to come about with this decision. BUT on the other hand, spreading hateful messages? Not. Fucking. Cool. It is quite simple to express concern in an appropriate/respectful manner. Remember, this is a company full of living and breathing human beings. Trying to justify “who is to blame” and pointing fingers is just childish. Guess what? No one is to blame, it was a company-wide decision that they all made and spent months upon months to create.

Yes, it does suck to see content that was free for years be moved to a paywall, but remember they are independent artists that have to pay employees, freelancers, locations, and themselves! Have we not been advocating for fair pay among creative individuals when it comes to WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes and then AI art taking jobs away from artists? If this is what the company needs to do to survive while not sacrificing the high-quality content they make for us, then we should give it a shot! Plus with the current discount available, the subscription is not that pricey for the amount of shows they produce! Literally for January and a bit of February, they were uploading 2 podcasts and 2 separate shows… that’s a lot of content! If you have never sat down to produce, direct, write, perform, edit, and all other aspects it takes to make a fine-polished YouTube video, it takes a lot of work!

To add to this, Watcher already makes content that far expands past what is recognized as normal for YouTube. They build individual sets for each show that is produced, and they travel all over the place for Ghost Files and soon-to-be Travel Season. It costs money to produce content and YouTube?- It’s just not how it was years and years ago. Views on long-form content have been dipping and with the over-saturation of sponsorships, I am assuming they are not making enough profit to sustain the business on the current platform. Also, monetization on YouTube has been a killer for many channels because of vulgar language issues and just being demonetized for no rhyme or reason. By moving over to a streaming platform of their own they can continue to create what they want to create, and make it without any restrictions or rules holding them back. Too pricey? Find some friends who also like the content and split the pricing evenly. Only want to watch certain shows? Then make a monthly subscription for the time that show airs. There are many solutions that you guys see as a huge problem, and don’t get me wrong I have my concerns. I shared those concerns briefly in my theory post about them still being a young channel, but I’m also unaware of the actual analytics and revenue that is currently being brought in currently to the company from YouTube alone. 

It’s a huge step that has garnered negative feedback from those spreading hateful messages about the company and to other individuals for supporting the boys *cough cough I see your messages and comments cough cough* is truly uncalled for. I will be taking a bit of a break from my socials as I wait out the storm though if I have the energy, I might stream on Twitch again and talk through this with y’all if you can sit down and have a civil discussion. As for now, it’s your choice if you continue to support. My goal is to continue to make funny little memes, and if I am allowed to I will be working on a crack video pt.2 after Travel Season premieres. Remember to be kind and to put yourselves in their shows. Just the boys even though they are receiving the brunt of the hate, but for everyone at the company.

Your local memester watcherina - Fritz.

#watcher #watcher entertainment #ryan bergara #shane madej #steven lim #watcher tv #my thoughts

[virtchandmoir]

Zabeen Hirji: Last week I had the pleasure of sitting down with two inspiring women - Canadian Olympic and World figure skating Champion, Tessa Virtue, and Deloitte Canada’s Human Capital leader Jodi Baker Calamai.

The topic: State of Performance: Applying lessons from elite athletes to organizational performance

We talked about strategies and practices to enable individuals and teams to feel and perform at their best.  The audience was an intimate group of CHROs from leading organizations, who were also invited to bring along a mentee or son or daughter.  We all drew inspiration from the techniques used by elite athletes in pursuit of sustained high performance to redefine expectations around the way we work. 

Tessa and Jodi shared their experience and expertise, with a human touch, bringing honesty and vulnerability to the dialogue.  The discussion centred around the criticality of creating work environments where human sustainability is prioritized (https://lnkd.in/gvh_YE3N).

Three takeaways from the conversation:

1️⃣ Stop chasing perfection and start pursuing excellence - “Failure had been my greatest fear - we learnt to embrace failure. It gave us confidence to make bold, ambitious choices.  We were liberated - freed to be our best." (I personally feel freed in my #purposefulthirdact, wish I had made it happen sooner.)

2️⃣ Human Sustainability: To achieve a state of performance, you must equally value and focus on human performance and  business outcomes (The “power of and”). 

3️⃣ Energy Cubes: You only have so much to give in a week. Make sure what you take on is in service of your greater purpose, your why.  Rest and recovery are necessary to operate in a “state of performance.”  

And at a very personal level for me - learn to mono-task, vs. always multi-tasking.

#tessa #off ice #candid life #energy cubes

[andypantsx3]

hi andie!

do u have any tips for corporate girlies? my friend is starting out in the corp world !! and got a lot of reality checks over how harsh and 'corporate' it is :((

Ohhhhh my god yeah corporate culture sucks!! It's just a bunch of adult babies using fancy words tbh lmao, acting like we're going to war and/or curing cancer when we're really just launching a product no one wants or needs lol.

Not sure what industry your friend is or what role she's in but here are some general tips, starting with practical project tips to more personal/sanity check tips lol.

Make sure you understand your organization's goals and success criteria. This is so basic but in order to understand what leadership cares about and how all the different project components fit in, you're going to want to learn what are all the active projects, who owns them, what success is being evaluated on, and how those performance indicators are being calculated. I work with some people who have no idea what is going on (which, fair) but it ends up creating a ton of churn and can look super bad for them if they are not in step with what our corporate overlords expect from them.

Clear communication is key. Never have I ever encountered more communication issues than working in corporate; people often have one image in their head of what a task looks like where their partner teams might have another, and if you don't outline all the key details together, you could end up delivering something unusable. If you're an individual contributor (aka a task doer), make sure you ask clarifying questions of the project leads if they haven't specified (like, what testing environment something needs to be deployed to, what are the release gating procedures, what is the expected timeline, etc). If you're a project manager, make sure you're clarifying those details with stakeholders and passing that information to your team; prompt your team to ask questions even if they seem clear, and make sure you get that info for them ASAP!!

Documentation is crucial. If you make an implementation decision, document it. If you have a delivery, document it. If you have a process for anything, make sure you document it. If you have a meeting, get those notes out. If you have an agreement with stakeholders, make sure you get it in writing and get them to sign off on it!! Information is key to helping other people understand what you are doing, why you are doing it, what the expectations were from other related parties when you started doing it, and how it can be improved if needed. If you're a project lead or manager, start a folder or repository somewhere for all project communications, keep all your emails & slacks with stakeholders (because they will come back being snotheads and you can politely whip out receipts). :3

Be proactive. Observe the kinds of questions leadership asks, understand their concerns & needs. Then proactively make sure you are addressing those things in your work and/or in your reporting. For example, if you're reporting on a release failure in a weekly business review, make sure you call out things like: 1) what you tried to do to prevent failure, 2) what the ultimate blockers or root causes of failure were, 3) what your learnings were from that failure, 4) what you are going to do to fix it, and 5) what the revised ETA is. That way, even though things didn't go your way, leadership understands you are on top of things and proactively working to solve problems.

Understand priorities & tradeoffs. There will come a time where you have conflicting demands on your time. Work with your manager or org leadership to understand what projects are higher priorities than others, and do not be afraid to escalate to your manager or above if progress is threatened or if you need to clarify. For example, Project A is high priority and Project B is medium priority, but the project manager from Project B is all up in your business asking you to deliver something or investigate something that you don't know if you have time for. Loop in your manager to determine if someone else can take Project B, or inform them that doing B will impose these anticipated risks to A; are they comfortable with that? Then you can circle back to Project B to deliver the news that you're working on A, your manager has suggested this revised timeline or other POC they can work with, and if they have concerns they can escalate. (Usually this shuts ppl up :3)

Improve processes. I cannot emphasize this enough but try to think about how to do things better the next time around, even if things went solidly to plan. Do not get defensive about your work or the quality of your work; always be thinking (or asking other people) about how time could be cut off of something, what processes could be put in place to minimize touchpoints or decrease risks. If you can, try to impose this mindset on your team & ask for project retrospectives, and take specific action items out of those retrospectives! Trust me it makes things so much clearer and easier in the long run if you work to make things better over time!!

Get a mentor. Find someone who has the job you want to have or who seems to know the things you want to know about and ask them to work with you on that! Tell them what your goal is, whether to develop a special skill set to move roles, or develop a specific understanding of a project or concept, and ask them to help you develop a plan to get there. Set up regular time together and goals to work towards in that time. This helps you learn things faster and gives you someone who can vouch for you when it comes time for yearly feedback, role changes, or promotions.

Create a personal portfolio. Keep track of all the things that you do; all the projects you are on, what your role is, what you were responsible for delivering, and what resources you created as part of that, whether it's project wikis, some script, etc. Keep your manager aware of it so they understand your value and have visibility on your work; you can leverage this when it comes time for role changes or promotions. Additionally try to make sure you're working on high viz or high value projects; this gives you even more leverage!!

Do not tie your self worth to your performance or your job title. At the end of the day capitalism sucks, corporations are evil, and none of this shit matters. Even if you don't do something well once, you can improve in the future, and even if your company doesn't see it/isn't a good match for your skills, you have value!!! They profit from keeping you underpaid, stressed out, and dejected, but you are not just a 'resource' or a cog in a machine. You are a person; you will make missteps from time to time but you bring more value to this planet and the people on it just by existing than these capitalist enterprises could ever. Do do not burn yourself out trying to please them, keep yourself open to other job options, and make sure you have a good friend/family support structure in place to reality check you!!

Idk how helpful this was but I hope there was a little something in there that your friend could use. If she has specific questions on anything I'm happy to help out too lol; that might give me more idea what specific aspect she is struggling with & how to help!

#ask andie

[lilyginnyblackv2]

Buddy Daddies - Episode 9 - Preview is Up! - SPOILERS & SPECULATION!

It’s time for Sports Day! 

So, according to the summary, neither Kazuki nor Rei have ever participated in a children’s sports day, which makes sense. Rei had an unconventional childhood and Kazuki grew up without much money and without parents, so it’s unlikely that he went to daycare or preschool. 

(Thinking about, this would also explain why neither Kazuki nor Rei thought of daycare or preschool right away and only got the idea after seeing a daycare bus go by the park.)

This means that this children’s sports day will be all of their firsts! Mine too, kinda. I’ve experienced elementary school and junior high school sports days, but never a daycare/preschool sports day. I found a blog post written by a mother who went to one (I’ll link it below in the comments) and a lot of the events involve the parents in the activity.

At the elementary and junior high school level, parents usually aren’t all that involved, But at the daycare level, it seems they are! Especially for the little babies (which makes sense, because they are babies, they can’t do too much on their own).

Putting the rest under a Read More because of spoilers!

Let’s look at some of the events we can see in the preview:

Tamaire - Bean Bag Toss

It looks like Miri is holding a white colored bean bag in her hand, so this is probably going to be some a bean bag toss game.

Here is a description of the event:

Tamaire (玉入れ) translates “Beanbag toss”, and as the name implies, it is an exciting game where students throw small beanbags into a basket hung at the top of a tall pole. Beanbags are scatted on the ground around the pole, and each bag has the color of its team, typically red or white. Teams compete against each other based on the number of beanbags in the basket. There is a time limit, and the beanbags thrown into the basket after the time ends are not worth any points.

(I’ll link to the post where I got that description below in the comments).

Tug - of - War

Tug-of-War is a staple and is basically at every sports day and it looks like Miss  Anna is tugging at a rope here. How it will go down here...I’m not too sure. Usually you’ll see combos like the kids going against each other, or students against teachers (junior high school), or even like teachers against parents (one of the rare events where you might see parents participate in Sports Days aimed at older years). Maybe here it will be the Aozora Staff vs The Parents? Or maybe the older kids and Miss Anna vs The Parents, lol.

I don’t know! It should be pretty interesting though! Of course, I could be wrong here too, but tug-of-war would make sense.

Kumitaiso (組体操) - Maybe? Or Stretching?

I’m not 100% sure on this one. What is kumitaiso? 

Kumitaiso (組体操) is rather a group performance than individual competition. Students work together as a team and create a variety of gymnastic formations with their bodies.

Usually they make a pyramid, but this generally tends to be for older kids, and parents have noted in more recent years that it can be very dangerous, so many schools are getting rid of it. But maybe this is a more tame/safer and more simplistic version of something like that. But they could just be doing some kind of stretching activity here. If anyone knows for sure, feel free to let me know and I’ll add the info in!

Race

And, of course, we have the race. According to the summary, Miri practices with Kazuki in the park and she does end up in the lead, but then she falls right before the finish line! T0T Oh no, Miri! A lesson in things being out of our control sometimes? About losing and taking it okay? Both? Something else entirely? I’m intrigued to see which it will be!

Let’s see, outside of that we have... 

Rei scouting out the daycare, lmao! XD

It’s cute though! Rei is getting into the event in his own way.

It seems both him and Kazuki are getting really invested in it, so this may end up being a lesson for them too (like parents centering themselves in their children’s sports activities and making it more about them than their child - you know, the parent that gets super worked up over their kid losing something, maybe kinda like Kazuki looks here: 

But the kid will be totally fine. I can see them going with that angle. Since Buddy Daddies generally tends to be less about Miri learning some kind of lesson and more so about Kazuki and Rei learning something about parenting and themselves through raising Miri.

Changing up the focus a bit, one thing I’m really looking forward to is seeing Kazuki and Rei possibly interacting with the other daycare parents more (not just the Daycare Mamas!).

You can spot a Daycare Papa! in the background there too. It’s also just really common to see like the whole family come out for Sports Day events, so like moms, dads, older and younger siblings, even grandparents.

The idea of Kazuki and Rei being able to take part in something so...innocent and group building is such a heartwarming idea. Though, I am also fully preparing myself for an after-credits scene that will go back to the drama at hand and Kyutaro’s decision, etc. and that’s probably going to hurt even more after this episode (likely as the writers intended, lol).

Oh! Also, I love that we are seeing that follow through that I was hoping for from Episode 7! It seems Rei is going to be willingly choosing to make riceballs for Miri (enough that she could share them with her friends and others there too!). This lunch is going to be one that Kazuki and Rei make for their family together. T~T My heart! 

Also, Rei learning how to make something like a riceball is such a good place to actually start (instead of French toast, which requires more basic skills and knowledge). It’s an easy (and quick) meal to learn how to make well. If they end up tasting really good too, then that can act as a very quick and easy boost to his confidence with making and preparing food. It’s such a good step in the right direction! I hope the kids and parents like his riceballs! 

Anyway, I’m going to fully appreciate this breather episode before we jump into the angst, action (probably), and drama of the final act of the series (Ep. 10 - 13).

#Buddy Daddies #Kazuki Kurusu #Rei Suwa #KazuRei #Miri Unasaka #BD #BD spoilers #Buddy Daddies spoilers #speculation #long post #image heavy post #Sports Day

[jujumin-translates]

★ Main Story | Act 13 - Budding Spring | Chapter 10 - Forced to the Starting Gate

Itaru: (I think it’s about time to head out… ah, right.)

Itaru: (Now that I’ve got a rough idea of our performance schedule, I’d better apply for paid leave before I forget.)

Boss: Chigasaki-kun, may I borrow you for fifteen minutes?

Itaru: --Of course.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Boss: It appears you’re all here.

Itaru: (Looks like there’s a few of my colleagues… and a handful of younger guys too.)

Boss: I called you all here to ask if you’d be interested in participating in an urban development project that our company is currently working on.

Boss: The project itself is already in its final stages, so what we’d like from you is to provide support in the form of an induction course.

Itaru: (So this is that large-scale overseas urban development project. The one about creating a theater establishment and developing the surrounding area to be a center of arts and culture…)

Itaru: (I checked out the outline since it was related to theater and sounded interesting.)

Boss: It’s not mandatory, of course. It would just be something to do alongside your current jobs.

Boss: That said… there is a reason you all were chosen specifically.

Boss: As individuals who are important to the company’s future, I truly hope you consider becoming core members of this next project.

Itaru: (Eight racehorses competing in the promotion race line up at the gate. Favored to win is Communication Skills Demon, but My Parents Are Absolutely Loaded is also attracting quite a lot of attention.)

Coworker A: I’ll do my best to meet your expectations.

Coworker B: I’ve been interested in this project for quite some time now, so I’m honored to be part of it!

Itaru: (The gate has opened and both of the favored horses have taken off running.)

Coworker C: Considering the state of my current workload, I should be able to participate in the induction course.

Itaru: I… sorry, can I have a little more time to think about it?

Itaru: (If it weren’t for the timing, I probably would’ve been all in, but…)

Itaru: (Honestly, I’m so busy with the troupe and the Fleur Award right now that I just don’t have time to think about anything else.)

Boss: …Ah, because you have your own theater company to worry about, right, Chigasaki-kun? Please do consider it based on your schedule with that in mind.

Boss: However, the theme of this urban development project is the arts, which is why the other team members were really hoping to work with you, Chigasaki-kun.

Coworker A: …

Itaru: I thank them for considering me.

Boss: I’ll set up another opportunity at a later date to explain more on what the induction course entails and to introduce the project’s team members. I hope to see you there.

Itaru: I will seriously consider it.

*Door closes*

Itaru: …

Coworker B: He seriously can’t just say he’ll consider it and then refuse.

Coworker C: Must be nice being in a position where you can just quit the company if worse comes to worst.

Coworker A: Well, it is a popular theater company, and the fact that it’s generally well-known definitely doesn’t make it any easier for the company to deal with him.

Itaru: …

Itaru: (If you’re gonna say it, at least do it behind my back.)

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Chikage: I’m so sorry, but my hands are full at the moment.

Company Employee A: I see. I apologize for dropping it on you so suddenly.

Chikage: Let me know if there’s anything else I can help you with.

Itaru: …

Itaru: Wanna head somewhere a little nicer, Senpai?

Chikage: …I don’t even want to try and guess where that might be, but go on.

Itaru: The hell is that supposed to mean?

Chikage: Haah, I suppose I can’t say no. I’ll go with you.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

*Punching SFX*

Itaru: Start by cheesing it and then follow that up with a double finishing move and K.O.! Man, is there any greater high than this?

Chikage: If you’re going to try and hide the way you actually feel, do it a little better.

Itaru: …Ughh, this is so stupid. Why can’t it just be the people who actually wanna be part of the promotion race at the starting gate?

Itaru: I mean, they should dip if they don’t wanna do it. Directing hate at me isn’t gonna go anything.

Itaru: There’s supposed to be a fine line between noobs like them and a mid-tierer like me. Why is it that the more of a mid-ranker you are, the less human rights you get?

Chikage: There aren’t really that many mid-level people to begin with.

Itaru: The company knows what to expect from the “Elite Chigasaki-san”. That’s why they’re hiring guys fresh out of college to steadily raise them into the perfect corporate slaves.

Itaru: I get why my colleagues are so desperate to advance their careers by using their outer appearances and mild manners to do so.

Itaru: From their point of view, it’s gotta be infuriating to see a guy who acts so carelessly while chasing after both theater and a career.

Itaru: And hit ‘em with a triple combo finisher-- But I’m just trying to figure out where I stand, so just eff off.

Itaru: Must be nice for you, Senpai. You go overseas a lot and get to level up your career stats in the least complicated way possible.

Itaru: And the things people say about you aren’t nearly as harsh, either.

Itaru: Me, on the other hand, I’m just stuck being the “can-do guy” who does a little better than decent work around the office.

Itaru: At the end of the day, I’m just a mediocre handyman at best.

Itaru: Even if I’m not being treated like the favorite, I still don’t slack off with my work. I may not be the most motivated, but I’d like to think I’m still doing everything I’m supposed to.

Chikage: You sure move your mouth and your hands a lot.

Itaru: What am I even trying to do in the first place?

Itaru: Should I sell my soul and become a corporate slave like you, and aim so high that no one can ever possibly complain about me not being good enough, or should I try and attain a rank that’s purely “Itaru Chigasaki”?

Chikage: Dad jokes and pro-level dodging techniques, huh? (1)

Chikage: Anyway, shouldn’t your first step be thinking about what you want for yourself?

Itaru: What I want… Well, I guess just to maintain the status quo so I don’t have to deal with everyone’s complaints about me… No, actually, maybe I want to speedrun my way to early retirement with passive income…?

Chikage: Then stop spending money on pulls and start investing.

Itaru: Absolutely not.

Itaru: …I originally chose this job based on the benefits and was lucky enough just to get in, so it’s not like I have any real desire to climb the corporate ladder.

Itaru: Most of the troupe have more than one thing on their hand, but they all have dreams and love what they do.

Itaru: And then there’s me who’s job is just a source of income. I feel like I really don’t have a whole lot to bring back to the troupe.

Itaru: It’s an important time for Spring Troupe to compete, and here I am getting caught up in a promotion race while all my coworkers talk behind my back.

Chikage: So you’re in a position where your hobby is more useful to the troupe.

Itaru: Exactly. To be honest, I wonder if there’s even any point in me continuing to be an office worker, but I don’t have the backbone or the self-confidence to just quit and do theater as my full-time job.

Itaru: Basically, I just wanna have something to fall back on.

Itaru: Ugh~, who would’ve thought I’d still be having these kinds of student problems even now… You ever think about this kinda stuff, Senpai?

Chikage: Well… there’s a variety of upsides to my job.

Itaru: A variety?

Chikage: A variety.

Itaru: Oh, okay. By all means, don’t elaborate or anything.

Chikage: No matter where you are, there are always two sides to things. There’s the side where you’re appreciated and the side where you’re disrespected. It’s not just you.

Chikage: The same goes for me, just with a different set of people. I guess I’m just glad to even be able to do theater activities in the first place.

Itaru: But if we’re actually nominated for the Fleur Award this time around, I doubt the company’s gonna be too eager to accommodate for that.

Chikage: Well, the company does have a performance-based evaluation system. If you can’t contribute to improving the company’s image, you’ll be told you need to be giving your work your undivided attention.

Chikage: At any rate, that doesn’t change the fact that we need the results of our next performance to be good too.

Itaru: I guess you’re ri… Hell yeah, I win! Haaah, I feel better now.

Itaru: Oh, right, didn’t you get asked to do something annoying too, Senpai?

Chikage: Ah… I was asked to accompany a client on an overseas business trip as an interpreter, but I had to decline because I just don’t have the time for that right now.

Itaru: Guess even cheaters like you have it hard sometimes. But y’know, I’m sure there’s tons of people who would kill to have the opportunity to do some sightseeing while all you have to do is be an interpreter.

Chikage: Well, it’s not to a country that I particularly want to go to.

Itaru: But you know the language, don’t you?

Chikage: I guess.

Itaru: Yeah, okay, we get it, you’re cheater.

[ ⇠ Previous Part ] • [ Next Part ⇢ ]

• • •

T/N:

(1) Itaru says “役職 『茅ヶ崎至』 に至る” (yakushoku “chigasaki itaru” ni itaru), literally “Attain the position of “Itaru Chigasaki”. The joke is that the verb “to attain” (至る; itaru) and Itaru’s name are the same kanji and have the same pronunciation, hence why Chikage mentions dad jokes.

#a3! #a3! translation #itaru chigasaki #chikage utsuki

[thecoachingdirectory]

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#workshop #disc #dynamic DISC Flow Fusion #leadership #1-day workshop #DISC and Emotional Intelligence’s powerful applications #DISC and Emotional Intelligence #Group Workshop #upcoming event #events in australia #sally dillon #leadership coach #effective leadership #improve your leadership skills #leadership skills #leveraging different leadership styles #create high-performing individuals and teams #thecoachingdirectory

[arizonaconservativegal]

As you work in government, and think the government should be dramatically reduced, I was wondering where you think such cuts ought to start and how would you get enough people to agree with you? From where I stand, as someone who gained political consciousness in 2018(?) and has been leaning right libertarian ever since, it seems no one can agree even though we all see the same issue.

Well if I were dictator for a day, I'd eliminate the federal Department of Education because they pretty much do nothing of value.

But the real answer is that I wouldn't start by cutting any programs at all.

Sure I'm a libertarian who has a philosophical problem with pretty much every government program, and if I were building the system from the ground up, I wouldn't ever include most of what we ended up with, but since it's already there, that's not an option.

Besides, even as bloated as they are, most government offices/agencies/departments do have a handful of very necessary positions and good employees in them. They just also have an awful lot of jobs that no one would ever miss and a lot of employees who do nothing but take up space. You need to go through all of them with a fine tooth comb to figure out which ones should be kept, what can be consolidated, and what can be eliminated with no impact on services. And then you'd need to hang around long enough to figure out which individual people to keep (either in their existing roles or reassign them to more useful positions) and which ones are just dedicated to being useless.

The problem is that doing that properly takes a tremendous amount of time and you really can't leave it up to the bureaucrats within the departments. If you tell them to just cut staffing levels by a certain percentage, half of them will just go by last hired, first fired and the other half will deliberately cut critical and public facing positions to create political demand for their funding to be restored.

If I were really going to go through all that, I'd start by identifying the positions to cut and then let attrition do its thing. Useless positions do not need to be replaced when vacated. Not actually firing anyone gets you around civil service protections and if you do your targeting well, the only people who will really squawk will be union bosses upset about dwindling membership numbers. The two tricks here are a) you still have to replace the positions that are necessary and start consolidating responsibilities so you can't skip that first step of figuring out what those are and b) you cannot let politics determine which positions are cut. All services levels must be maintained, even in programs that we disagree with politically.

The next thing I would do - which would be much harder - is reform those civil service and union protections. We need to be able to fire people who do not do their jobs adequately or who are no longer needed. Right now that's pretty much impossible so instead of firing them, we shuffle them off to another position - and usually that comes with a promotion and raise so they can't claim they're being treated unfairly. Or we just hire a second person to do the job the first one won't or can't do but instead of replacing the first person with the second person, we just pay two people to do one job at the same time.

The trade I would make is to eliminate or drastically increase pay caps for high performing employees and for positions that we have trouble hiring/retaining qualified employees. Too often we lose highly effective employees because the only thing we can do to reward them is to promote them out of their area of skill. And we simply cannot hire a talented lawyer or tech worker for $75k when they could be making two or three or ten times that in the private sector. Sorry, I know no one wants to pay government employees more but when we have a team of ten shitty employees getting paid $50k each, that's a lot more expensive than getting one good one who will actually do the job for $200k.

(If I could, I'd also put new employees on a 401k style retirement plan - I'd even offer a very generous match - and never put them in the pension system. It would save us a ton of money and frankly, those employees would be better off in the long run for having control of their retirement funds. But that's a separate issue and possibly a bigger hurdle than cutting jobs.)

Only when all that was done, and after several years had gone by so the public would see that the reductions in workforce really didn't hamper the service they received, that's when I'd think about starting to cut actual programs.

And then I would start with the Department of Education.

#oops this got long

[moirtre]

‎ ‎ ⋆⠀⠀&.⠀⠀٬⠀⠀(⠀⠀CALL YOU MINE.⠀⠀)⠀...⠀is the second extended play (ep) by south korean girl group, letalis. the album was released in both digital and physical form by south korean entertainment company, apricus culture on march 18, 2014.

the album was supported by performances of the title track, "I GOT A BOY" and the promotional single, "DARLING". the group's second release received massive attention from the group's growing fanbase and garnered critical praise for their vocal improvements from their first release. commercially, call you mine debuted at number two on the gaon album chart, highlighted in a highly publicized fandom war. "I GOT A BOY" was praised critically for its eclectic production and international appeal. the single itself peaked at number three on the us world digital chart, marking their first introduction to the american market. the music video for "i got a boy" won the award for video of the year at the first youtube awards in 2013, generating the first signs of an american fanbase for the group.

in terms of critical reception, the album performed noticeably better among musical critics than their debut album. billboard columnist, evie lowe, noted that the song displayed the group's promising potential with "gleeful chaos" that "set the bar high for pop music in 2014". the group's choreography for the title track also created a small dance craze among korean adolescents and is regarded as being a continued domestic favorite. averaging a 4.5/5, the album has stood to be one of the group's most successful.

ㅤ*ㅤSECTION ONEㅤ:ㅤthe tracklist.

ʬ.ʬ.⠀001:⠀⠀ ٬⠀⠀ DARLING⠀

ʬ.ʬ.⠀002:⠀⠀٬⠀⠀ CHARMING��

ʬ.ʬ.⠀003:⠀⠀٬⠀⠀ I GOT A BOY * (title track)⠀

ʬ.ʬ.⠀004:⠀⠀٬⠀⠀ 좋은 날 (BETTER DAYS)

ʬ.ʬ.⠀005:⠀⠀٬⠀⠀ CLICKIN'

ʬ.ʬ.⠀006:⠀⠀٬⠀⠀ IN & OUT

ㅤ*ㅤSECTION TWOㅤ:ㅤthe physical album.

‎ ‎ ⋆⠀⠀&.⠀⠀٬⠀⠀two versions of call you mine were available upon initial release. the group would go on to re-record the title track, "i got a boy", in both english and japanese in 2014.

ʬ.ʬ.⠀ENCHANTMENT VERSION: contains one disc, one photobook (featuring 100 photos), one of four unit posters, one of seven member-written letters, one of seven random photocards, one group poster, and one of three random stickers.

ʬ.ʬ.⠀ROMANCE VERSION: contains one disc, one photobook (featuring 111 photos), one of four unit posters, one of seven member-written letters, two of seven random photocards, one of seven individual mini-poster, one of two random group posters, three stickers, and one fandom charm.

ㅤ*ㅤSECTION THREEㅤ:ㅤthe styling.

they walked around like they were the shit and at the time they really were. their styling team really invested in designer brands like obey, adidas by jeremy scott, and joyrich, to push their look between trendy and individual. each member was given a unique twist to the group look that managed to solidify the styling trends stylists would continue to stick to as a staple of the letalis branding.

ㅤ*ㅤSECTION FOURㅤ:ㅤthe notes.

this era eats in every way, i'm so serious.

a fan favorite album and title. everything about this era is solidified in letalis history books and learning every word to the songs on this album is like a vitalis prereq.

the teaser videos from this era kind of generated lore rumors which was different for apricus which is usually pretty upfront about if their groups have a universe of lore/storyline or not. letalis didn't overtly debut with one and apricus didn't address the murmurs of a storyline.

the teasers were released through 15 second member concept films. each begins with an echo of a different snippet of the track, in & out before cutting to a flashing sign with different words for each member: young, work, duty, vow, adore, loyal, and want.

fan theories kind of spun out of control only for the music video to never reference any of these themes. all of these ideas were noticed to be talked about within the songs and fans were largely pulled into the group through the discussion of these topics through the album's lyrical contents.

there's video essays left over on youtube from this era. it's kind of fun to see how far off everyone was when predicting the future lore that would come to define the group.

some of the girls allegedly may have hinted at what the teasers meant. they all deny they've ever said anything about them and actively avoid talking about lore and fan theories to this day.

intense choreo returns and somehow gets more intense?

emmy gained her first choreography credit in the description box of the uploaded music video, beginning the tradition of a member of the dance line participating in title track choreography.

they went viral amongst the general public for not just the catchy and edginess of 'i got a boy' but also for their live vocals after they sang on a radio show. melanie and sienna in particular got a lot of praise for carrying the more emotional vocals on the more technically advanced tracks.

as for the members relationships, this era was kinda smooth sailing which is probably why it's one of their most successful. they didn't argue much (publicly at least) and were all just excited to be gaining their popularity and recognition of their talent.

styling was a huge point of this era. we saw the beginnings of their individual styles being blended into their group identities.

hair also became a big deal. melanie dyed her hair its signature blonde this era with a striking honey blonde initiating the era. emmy's hair was chopped for the first time and heri gets her staple 70s big hair.

this era was also the start of their longest running youtube series: lethal doses. the series follows a different member in a vlog style of filming as they talk through their thoughts about the album, performances, and activities while being styled for the day.

the first episode in the series follows naira as the group's leader. it created the infamous fandom joke about emmy needing her bangs to hide her creases on her forehead from getting upset at rehearsals.

positions were finalized this era and melanie was officially handed the center and face positions and no one was shocked.

#‎ ‎ ⋆⠀⠀ʬ.ʬ.⠀⠀٬⠀⠀(⠀⠀&.⠀⠀)⠀...⠀DISCOGRAPHY. #fictional kpop oc #fictional kpop soloist #fictional idol oc #fictional kpop community #fictional kpop idol #fictional idol group #fictional idol community #fictional kpop company #fake idol group #fake kpop girl group #fake kpop group #fake kpop idol #idol au #idol kpop #idol oc #kpop idol #kpop #kpop oc #kpopidol #kpop gg

[the-one-where-casey-watches-tv]

Friday Night Lights episode 1.01 "Pilot"

When I first watched this show, I started it completely on a whim. It just happened to come up on Hulu when I was looking for a new show, and I didn’t know anything about it. I full-cried the first time I watched this episode, and I still do every single time. Not only is it a good pilot- it’s a great episode of TV overall. It’s a rock-solid, deeply moving, and involved 44 minutes, and it does it all with people we’ve never met before. Every pilot I watch and write now, I hold up against this one, and it all has to do (as always) with character, theme, and pacing. Let’s talk about it!

            We can all agree the 90s/2000s were just cozy right? The Friends, Gilmore Girls, The West Wing era is synonymous to me with a warm blanket on a cold day. Friday Night Lights might just be the coziest of them all, but its inviting nostalgia is far from coincidental. Like the other shows I just listed, Friday Night Lights achieves its warm friendliness through what I’m coining right now as ‘atmosphere-building’.

            World-building in its typical sense means defining the logistical ‘rules’ of the story. In this case: high school football is very important in Dillon, Texas; scholarships, careers, and reputations are on the line and winning or losing a game will have meaningful consequences. Our engagement in the story is dependent on understanding and believing these stakes- as soon as you’re saying, “but it’s just football”, it’s lost you.

            However, equally important is establishing the emotional rules. Once we’re invested in a story- we know where we are, how it works, who’s there with us, and how they feel- the last promise a show is making to its audience is how it’s going to make them feel. When the credits roll, are we going to be sitting on the couch feeling touched? Motivated? Dazed? Shocked? And can we count on being served that feeling every week? When characters are feeling one way, resulting in you feeling another, is when a show becomes an entity of its own. It becomes more than a collection of people and events and can itself be called things like cozy.

            Atmosphere-building is especially important in a pilot as this episode sets the precedent for the series. Everything you’re seeing and feeling is what you can expect to see and feel week after week. Friday Night Lights does some serious atmosphere-building by creating a character out of the town itself. Dillon, Texas becomes a major player in the show, imposing stakes and catalyzing events so we’re not just taking the team’s word for it that football is this important. The pressure on our characters isn’t self-imposed, but the way they respond to it as individuals is what really brings out the heart and kindness that’s at this show’s core.

            The episode takes place over the course of the week leading up to the first game of the season, and it fast-tracks us into getting to know the characters by leaning into the stereotypical dynamics they all hold. Through radio station commentary, field interviews, and snatches of characters’ home lives, we meet underdog coach Eric Taylor, beloved, NFL-bound quarterback Jason Street, his cheer captain girlfriend Lyla Garrity, deadbeat fullback Tim Riggins, arrogant and troublemaking running back Smash Williams, and the comparatively under-performing second string quarterback Matt Saracen, who spends more time taking care of his grandmother than the other way around.

            In a pep rally hosted by the mouthpiece of Dillon, car salesman Buddy Garrity, the turnout reveals the extent to which this town cares about high school football. These players feel pretty good about themselves, but they’re not putting themselves on this pedestal. They introduce themselves to thunderous applause, while Coach Taylor endures whispered tips and ominous comments about the consequences of losing the opening game. While we realize their importance to the town, some of their interpersonal dynamics come to a head as well, like the rivalry between Riggins and Smash.

            Riggins’ girlfriend Tyra flirts with Smash, vying for Riggins’ attention, but only succeeds in further inflaming the conflict between the boys. They exchange some harsh words but allow themselves to be separated before a real fight breaks out- this is the South, after all, and everyone, even Riggins the high school drunk, knows when to mind his manners (Street, meanwhile, is firing off one “yes ma’am” after another as adoring moms line up to give him QB advice).

            The next day the team visits the pee-wee team in a kickoff event, and the little kids clearly worship the older boys. In closing, Street leads the earnest kids in the Lord’s Prayer. Before they begin, a boy raises his hand and poses a genuine question: “Do you think God loves football?” Street doesn’t think very long before he replies, “I think everybody loves football”. The boy nods seriously and bows his head, satisfied with the answer, and they pray. The sincere sweetness of this moment is what the show is all about. The way it feels to watch these boys join hands and pray over their love of football- which becomes synonymous with love itself- is the real point of Friday Night Lights. And this moment is just a precursor to the emotional climax that turns every stereotype on its head and sends the show spinning in a whole new direction.

            It’s game night, and one of this show’s greatest strengths has got to be the football games themselves. As someone who feels pretty neutral about football, Panthers games are my favorite football games to watch. They know exactly where the action is and how to keep you invested and informed in the gameplay. Even without the defining moment that elevates this show to something so much more, I would have been sold on this show and readily started the next episode.

            But then it happens. Street makes a tackle after throwing an interception, and he doesn’t get back up. It never fails to make my breath catch in my throat, just like everyone in the stands, and the other team kneeling hand in hand is when the tears start to flow. It’s serious, and everyone is treating it as such, but once Street is lifted into the back of an ambulance and driven away, the game must go on.

It’s Saracen’s time to shine. He’s caught completely off-guard and is clearly overstimulated, but he walks hand in hand across the field with the other captains to resume the game, and the love that’s in the air empowers him to land a pass to Smash, who scores the winning touchdown. As soon as the game is over, though, the outcome is out of everyone’s mind as they’re preoccupied with the only thing more important to this town than football: the community’s wellbeing.

On the field, Smash leads both teams in prayer: “Right now, it’s not really about who wins or loses, Father, we just all wanna be with Street right now, God. We know that you work in mysterious ways, and we just wanna send our spirit, our presence, our love, just to heal him in whatever way, Lord, whatever may be broken, Lord, just fix it right now, Father. Jesus, in your name we pray. Amen.”  The team echoes an “amen”, and Coach Taylor takes over with a more somber prayer reflecting on our mortality in this world. We fade out over his rumination that “we are all vulnerable, and we will all, at some point in our lives, fall”.

            I have yet to have any less of an emotional reaction with every viewing of this pilot, and I’ve realized that it’s the simplicity of the characters in this episode that actually contributes to their complexity later on. The way this one event changes things for every character at their core and puts them in a position they would never have expected to find themselves in, challenges them all in incredibly revealing ways.

            Street and Lyla were easily able to look ten years into the future and see themselves happily married with NFL money coming in. Now not only is this future obviously in jeopardy, but his best friend Riggins has some soul-searching to do too. Earlier in this episode Riggins had made clear that he often rides on Street’s coattails, not having the drive or passion of his friend. He rose a beer before the big game saying, “here’s to ten years from now, Street, good friends livin’ large in Texas. Texas forever, Street”.

            Lyla and Riggins’ futures are far from the only ones impacted by Street. Street was Coach Taylor’s golden ticket, and his relationship to the talented quarterback as his former pee-wee coach was a big factor in his scoring the job. Dillon has already established how important a winning season is for Taylor, and he’s now facing it without his key player. Coach Taylor now suddenly has a lot more riding on QB2 Matt Saracen than he would like, and while Matt really does love football, his home life demands a lot of him, and he doesn’t have the natural born gifts of Jason Street.

            Wondering how all of these seemingly simple characters will handle these unforeseen circumstances is what really brings them all into their own, and the love and passion with which they face these challenges is what we can rely on to fill our hearts week after week. If there is such a thing as a perfect pilot, I think it’s this, but if you think I’m snubbing someone, let me know in the comments!

#friday night lights #fnl #tv review #tv criticism #tim riggins #matt saracen #jason street #lyla garrity #coach taylor #connie britton #kyle chandler

[ainefu]

High&Low The Worst X (Video Interview)

English Translation (click on keep reading) 吉野北人さん, 川村壱馬さん, 塩野瑛久さん, 前田公輝さん

1:20 Question 1: If you were to switch places with someone, who would it be?

Gouki -- > Hokuto / Hokuto --  > Gouki / Kazuma -- > Akihisa / Akihisa -- > Kazuma

1:26 – 1:44 Gouki joked by saying there was mutual love between them since the matches were perfect and how they succeeded in creating couples (xD). Akihisa suggested changing places and experiencing each other’s work place for one day.

1:46 Gouki: I chose Hoku-chan, because inside himself is something that I could never imagine for me. The softness he has and the characteristic atmosphere he creates, those are things I can’t see inside myself at all. That’s why I chose Hoku-chan. Also, earlier when we were taking the pictures, I thought he was cute. I pointed at him because he was cute.

2:38 Hokuto: My reason (for choosing Gouki) is kind of similar. Gouki-kun has traits that I don’t have, he is unexpectedly really good at talking and he lights up the mood of the room. I can’t do these at all, if it were something like a joint party (they are teasing him here asking if he really is alright with just a joint party, Gouki added that he feels thrilled/fluttered and gestured him to go on), he’d be the most interesting person and the one to bring the tension up, I feel like he’d be one of the popular people.

3:19 Gouki: Let’s go to a bar together after this (everyone laughing). I am really happy, thank you.

3:31 Kazuma: I don’t think I’ve ever met a person who reflects the word “Beauty” as much as Akihisa, that’s the first reason. His external appearance is one thing of course, but taking into consideration his heart too I start thinking if it’s possible for a person to be so beautiful/pure. Personally, I am the type who is pretty calm/composed and Aki-kun is too. But when we are together, I can’t feel this, the atmosphere isn’t stressful. He is even more composed than I am, it makes me wonder where that maturity comes from.

4:28 Akihisa: Lately though, I am doing more and more as I like. I am trying to bring back my innocence/naive part.

4:41 Akihisa: For me, I admire Kazuma as a man and when for example he stands in the middle of the stage as an artist I’ve been thinking that it must feel good. The mysterious feeling he gives off and this calm side of him become into a performance, I find this amazing. You can’t of course pass this feeling without doing anything, and I think he has a lot of potential in him. And I understand that he is not achieving all this without giving it any thought at all, so including that part of his I respect him.

5:45 Question 2: What are the highlights/the parts to look forward to in this movie?

5:50 Kazuma: The atmosphere in Oya High School. This time, right from the start everyone is on good terms with each other and have strong bonds. I would like you all to look out for that emotion and passion that comes to life thanks to those strong relationships.

6:08 Hokuto: Thinking of HiGH&LOW, actions comes to mind first. This time, I think the actions scenes make up more than half of the movie! It’s filled with them more than half. The action scenes that will make you feel nervous and excited are the highlight.

6:27 Gouki: With time having passed at Oya High School, everyone has taken on their individual roles creating an atmosphere where their chemistry shows. Similarly to the previous works, Housen joins forces (with Oya High School) and they form a team carrying similar aspirations. This time we see other schools appearing too and I feel like their “colours” (their traits basically) are divided pretty clearly. I think it’s a good chance to start looking for your favourite character/team again!

6:59 Akihisa: Among the 4 of us I am the only one who is coming from Housen and not Oya High School, I’d like you to see how Housen will be involved in the story with Sachio absent. Even without Sachio, I’d be happy if you’d look out for the resolutions and the soul Housen has inherited.

7:23 Was there a change in the relationship between Fujio and Tsukasa?

7:28 Kazuma: Compared to the previous works I felt like there were more easy scenes and parts in terms of acting, it came out very natural at some times.

7:36 Akihisa: Last time, after the movie you also had the shooting of a drama right? In the drama you also had a one-on-one fight, I believe the relationship you two had there had a great impact.

7:50 Hokuto: There was that feeling of distance between them having crossed fists once, but they have managed to create a strange relationship where they understood each other without words.

8:02 Kazuma: Aside that we are also together in THE RAMPAGE working as a group, and even in the group as positions as quite similar to the ones we have in Oya High School. During that time we were able to talk a lot, and so even after we entered the movie (as characters) we naturally maintained that good relationship without having to talk much.

8:41 Gouki: Fujio definitely looks like he wouldn’t dance! Like a concert.. (imitating Kazuma’s and Hokuto’s poses and moves). And Tsukasa would never do anything like dancing! So are you two really able to act so different characters without any switch at all? Do you just say like “Start” and get right away to it? (Kazuma agreed) Tell me about that switch later! 

9:14 Hokuto: We’d actually like to ask you instead

9:20 Gouki: Like even if you think of Yuta there are some expressions that might be similar to performing on stage, but he showed such amazing acting that it’s difficult to believe it’s his first time. I felt that from you two as well. And I guess we grow and develop along with the roles we have, so that’s why it becomes easier to get into them. I ended up talking all the time though even though I intended to ask the question to you.

9:48 Kazuma: Even though our roles confront each other, we normally interact together openly, talking even when there is no camera and strengthening our relationship like that.

10:05 Akihisa: Seeing the poster you know right away that Fujio and Suzaki clash with each other, and so me and Gouki-kun were watching from the side that fight of “soul vs soul” (their spirits, their will and passion) and were discussing that it was amazing.

10:22 Gouki: I am not sure from what position exactly we should be saying it but objectively we both ended up thinking “Wow that was awesome”. 

Notes: I am still learning and the translation is not always literal so there might be mistakes or parts I didn’t understand well. Feel free to correct me if you notice anything! I hope this helps everyone who wants to enjoy the video!

You can find the translation in the video's comment section too!

#high&low #high&low the worst x #shiono akihisa #maeda gouki #yoshino hokuto #kawamura kazuma #the rampage #exile tribe #interview #吉野北人 #川村壱馬 #塩野瑛久 #前田公輝 #日本語 #japanese #Youtube

[kayas-kosmos]

Introducing Ludwig Striker - The King of Hearts.

Before reading about Ludwig, here is a link introducing the webcomic he is from (called Flowerpunk) if you are interested in learning about this world.

So who is Ludwig?

Ludwig Striker - AKA the "King of Hearts" - is a man who has devoted his life to protecting the most vulnerable people in society and lifting those up who have been crushed by the system. The city of Wyrdon, his home, has been afflicted with a horrific supernatural plague known as "the rot" which threatens to turn all of its citizens into maggots. Because of the Government's total incompetence with managing the plague, riots and civil disobedience are increasingly common and the police force has responded with increasingly punitive measures to quell the growing civil unrest.

In light of this chaos, a small faction known as "The Lovely Anarchists" came to be. At first it started with just a few people, that being Ludwig, his mentor Bruno and a handful of others. Their mission was simple, start creating a counter-society built on compassion, cooperation and wellbeing. Fight the growing cruelty of the world with radical love. Their methods would be based off the principles of mutual aid and direct action, helping those who needed it directly rather than trying to work through a broken system. Their symbol became iconic within the city, the black heart hugging a red heart, the anarchists protecting those who needed it the most.

The anarchists took over an abandoned powerplant known as the "Heliomatrix" and made it their squat. Over time, more and more individuals joined the squat and it quickly became a haven for street scientists, artists, creatives, environmentalists and the queer community as a whole - a multicultural melting pot that championed the uniqueness of those who has previously been pushed to the margins. The upper levels of the heliomatrix bloomed with beautiful permaculture gardens from which the anarchists could harvest a sustainable food source. Word quickly spread of this tiny patch of paradise in the decaying hellhole, and the anarchists fell under threat from far-right terrorists and the police. To make matters worse, they started grabbing the attention of the mainstream news outlets who accused the anarchists of being nothing more than violent thugs and organised criminals, painting a massive target on their backs. They needed a community defence team to protect their home.

Ludwig started training under Bruno to become part of community defence. Eventually, Bruno would take him out on different missions, be it ousting fascist street gangs, protecting protestors or providing aid to those who needed it. Ludwig also became avid at gardening... no, not that kind of gardening. The type where someone performs daring parkour feats in order to reach the high-up bio-generators across the city and take cuttings of the magic-producing plants inside. These plants are essential for staving off the rot, and the anarchists steal the technology to make it freely available for everyone to use - an act that enrages the big corporations who are trying to control and commodify the world's few remaining magical elements.

A lot of people take one look at Ludwig and immediately get the wrong impression. Despite his rather threatening appearance, Ludwig is a big-hearted softie who wants nothing more than the best for everyone. He prides himself on being open with his feelings, although some people are easily rubbed the wrong way by Ludwig's complete lack of a filter. Despite how loud, obnoxious, goofy and deliberately annoying he can be, his energy is contagious and it's hard not to at least crack a smile in his presence. Generally speaking, he's just a fun guy to be around, and if he knows you're hurting on the inside, he will be there to comfort you.

At the beginning of the Flowerpunk webcomic, Ludwig makes a chance encounter with the shy and gentle-hearted Kimi Hopper. The two immediately start forming a strong friendship, that eventually blossoms into something greater... ;)

With his new found BF, the two are going to go on a crazy, romantic adventure, one with magic, monsters, and ANARCHY!

Hope you all like this character! He has taken over 2 years to develop and I can't believe how far he has come.

Also for those who are interested, here is all of the original concept art for Ludwig way back from 2020. This guy went through a LOT of redesigns. Hell, I even had to look up all of the different types of mohawk there are! Stuck with the rooster cut, of course :)

Also he used to have two greyhounds whereas now he just has one. She's called Earwig. She's an ex-racer who Ludwig rescued after her trainer cruelly abandoned her.

Here are some much more recent goofy doodles I've been doing of the guy. Still trying to get the hang of drawing him consistently (and without drawing his head too small due to having a giant mohawk!)

And my personal favourite:

If you want to know what type of punk he is, he's a mix of anarcho-punk, queercore punk and has some solarpunk elements there, too.

And before anyone points out that he's an anarchist who calls himself the "king" of hearts, this is purely an ironic joke, haha.

If you would like to support the development of this character and the Flowerpunk universe as a whole, please consider sharing this post or donating a Ko-Fi, it would help so much. I will set up a Patreon eventually.

Thank you for taking the time to read all of this!

#artists on tumblr #trans oc #anarchist #solarpunk #anarchist oc #anarchy #anarchism #queer artist #queer character #transgender oc #trans man #queer comics #lgbt comic #flowerpunk #found family #solarpunk fiction #punk #punk OC #Punk Art #Punk Character #queercore

[virtchandmoir]

November 12, 2022

Jann Arden welcomes celebrated Olympian-turned-Executive Advisor Tessa Virtue for a conversation about her transition out of competitive ice dancing. Jann and Sarah ask her about finding confidence on and off the ice, her relationship with Toronto Maple Leafs Defenceman Morgan Rielly, going back to school, and what she dreams of doing next!

Having retired from skating, Tessa joined Deloitte as an Executive Advisor, working with the firm's senior leaders and their clients to translate her learning and experience as a world-class, high-performance athlete to the corporate world. Specifically, Tessa has been a key member of a team creating a new approach to working with organizations to help them and their people operate in a state of performance, allowing individuals to feel and perform at their best while also elevating the performance of teams, business units and the entire organization.  Drawing parallels to her experience with pressure, competition and different approaches to training and coaching, Tessa shares important lessons in mental health and well-being, both as an accomplished speaker and an advisor.

Tessa is also a member of the Order of Canada. She has her MBA from the Smith School of Business and is currently working towards her Masters of Applied Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania

Follow Tessa on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tessavirtue17 Follow Tessa on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tessavirtue

#tessa #off ice #interview: the jann arden podcast #which management #manifesto? cause she's still listed with them

[kungukingi]

Meditations on bris/isbr [9/?] "Unstoppable Force"

Link to previous part.

After Barou rejects Isagi's plea for help another time, Nagi offers him a 'prodigy's insight' (stemming from his personal experiences) that without accepting defeat, Barou 'won't be able to feel the frustration' that would propel him to view himself as something other than a king who doesn't need to change anything about himself.

The match continues and Isagi realises that while the coordination between Team Red only seems to be getting better, Team White is handicapped by Barou's stubbornness. At this point he concludes that they need to utilise Barou somehow to win, so he starts deconstructing his thought processes in a desperate attempt to figure out a way to counter — which leads to this game-changing revelation.

Isagi realises that Barou had a point, and that he really hasn't been trying to adapt to him as much as he's been trying to get Barou to play according to his own design, which is centred on drawing out each individual's strengths to induce cooperation-based 'chemical reaction' plays. But Isagi is not playing football just for the joy of playing with others, or for the thrill of getting people to execute his designs on the pitch.

"I'm not playing soccer to match someone else... I'm here to win!"

He's playing to win, and he specifically wants to win with his own power.

While playing with Bachira and Nagi, Isagi had veered back towards a more teamplay oriented mindset where it didn't seem to matter so much who would score for as long as they won the matches. A very pragmatic and smart approach considering how the Second Selection elimination operates, but also not too reminiscent of his core ego.

However, after witnessing Barou's unfaltering 'my way or the high way' mentality, he has to assume a more assertive role in order to utilise Barou, who is not going to just do what he says.

So, what Isagi does next is adapt to Barou's presence on the pitch without submitting to his will in the process. He realises that he doesn't actually need Barou's permission to leverage him — he simply needs to be smarter than him, and 'devour' his plays in order to become the 'ruler of this battlefield'. But the way Isagi ‘devoured’ Naruhaya in the previous match through 'assimilating and integrating attributes' from him is not something that he could attempt to do with Barou, considering they have such contrasting playstyles and unreproducible skill sets.

So what he sets out to do instead is to devour him in the other way from the two I outlined previously:

"Stealing" their performance by using their plays to propel your own.

When the match commences, Isagi notes how everyone except Barou seems to share the same implicit awareness of how useless he is for Team White at this point, and thinks up a way to leverage that piece of information. When his pass options to Nagi are sealed, he pretends he's going to pass to Barou to get him and the enemy moving...

...Yet proceeds to pass to Nagi instead, setting up a play that allows him to use Barou as a cover to make himself disappear from the enemy's eye. Isagi curls through the darkness that Barou has created as Nagi lobs a pass to him, after which he has this sequence of thoughts as he moves in to take his shot:

Isagi embraces the fact that while he doesn't have the power to change other people, he does have the power to change himself. And only through changing himself will he be able to become someone who can change the world with his own power.

And so, just like with the revelation Barou inspired in Isagi after the Team X versus Team Z match, here too Barou has unknowingly nudged Isagi in the direction of more egotistical playmaking. Isagi does not copy his techniques, but discovers new ways to utilise his own skills through being inspired by Barou's example and/or presence.

Through his mental narration, Isagi urges Barou to watch how he's found a way to devour him by making him a part of his own play by using his 'darkness' to turn his own play into a 'light' that stands in direct contrast to Barou on this pitch. It isn't simply that the spotlight is now shining on Isagi; he's the one who holds it, and through his goal manages to upstage Barou completely. And because they are so similar in terms of what they value and want to achieve on the pitch, Barou's expression instantly reflects the fact that he understands what has happened here — what Isagi has done to him.

After his goal, having now given up on the thought of being able to turn Barou's head around, Isagi tells him to just keep playing like he has so far (so that he can continue to predict and leverage those plays). And then...

When Isagi later thinks back to this specific moment, he explains it to himself as 'getting caught up in the moment' — which tells us that this wasn't calculated on his part. What I think is happening here is that he's still half-drunk on his goal and on the success of his plan, and that he had previously also swallowed a lot of feelings of frustration and even humiliation when he'd tried to get Barou to help him and Nagi — only to get called a loser.

So, essentially, I see this as a moment of payback, of Isagi asserting his dominance in a way that not even Barou can challenge in the moment as he's rendered speechless. The reason why I think Barou doesn't clap back at this point and try to get Isagi to eat his words right then and there is that he knows just as well as Isagi does that he utterly lost this particular encounter, and he hasn't got anything to show yet that could be used to argue against him.

After this exchange we get a glimpse of Barou's inner monologue for the first time. We are shown that the only part about what Isagi said to him just now that he seems to take issue with is getting called a 'loser', his very own trademark insult.

In Japanese this insult is the word "hetakuso" (下手くそ) which basically means someone who is really shitty at what they're doing.

[The fact that he takes such offence at getting called that himself, despite so readily throwing it around at others, speaks a lot about Barou's values. But I'll just put a pin on that for now.]

Barou of course doesn't just follow Isagi's instructions and 'play like he's done this far', but instead tries to do it all by himself, no longer thinking he'll get any passes from Isagi or Nagi. But Team Red has already figured out effective tactics for dealing him when he's acting as a lone agent, so he ends up losing the ball again after fighting hard for it. Afterwards he has to watch as Isagi claims the stray and assists Nagi in scoring Team White another goal, while he's ended up being used as a pawn in Isagi's design again.

After it's Chigiri's turn to score, Isagi makes this foreshadowing comment while Barou seethes in frustration while on the ground:

"An ego that could stay buried in front of Nagi and I... could never become the best in the world."

Next we get a glimpse into Barou's past as he thinks about his own weakness again, and at this point readers get context for both how he came about his rigid ways, and what is his intrinsic motivation to play. The narration of his past immediately starts with this:

"I... Shouei Barou... Had always been the field's leading actor."

This language of actors, roles, and the stage is very emblematic of who Barou is, but also of Blue Lock as a whole. His ego has always been the kind that Ego described as exemplary of a striker's mindset in his opening speech for the project:

So, in a sense, Barou's ego has always been 'the right stuff'. It's just his rotten personality that's allowed him to get so twisted up in his own perception of himself that he's now stumbling because he's never had to grow as a result of tasting true, personal defeat. So far he's evolved only through the hard work he consistently puts into his basic training, but that's no longer going to cut it.

Not after he's met Isagi, who not only does not submit to Barou, but also refuses to remove him from his own equations, and thus forces him to have a role in his designs.

When Barou used to get praised by his peers as a child for dominating the pitch, he wondered how could anyone find joy in simply supporting someone else's plays. He did not understand this mindset, and never even attempted to begin to understand it — but he did accept their service as he dedicated himself to the pursuit of 'his own type of play'.

Ultimately he grew into the realisation that it's not just the feeling of being the leading actor that he likes, but the feeling of getting to show others that they are not the protagonist by overwhelming their 'stupid dreams' with his own power. It's the same thing he tried to do to Isagi repeatedly; first in the Team X versus Team Z game, and then later when Isagi came to ask for his advice:

The first time around he almost managed to make a dent on Isagi's resolve, but ultimately Isagi took his words and used them as fuel to grow stronger (and more egotistical). By the time they trained together, Barou's words don't even manage to penetrate Isagi's skin, what with him being too busy to learn from Barou's example and then admire his skills and attitude in the privacy of his own thoughts.

But now they're here, in this 3v3 match, and the same Isagi whom Barou has repeatedly tried to make 'understand his place' has now managed to not only use Barou against his will to support him in his own plays, but is also shining so brightly that Barou is starting to feel a creeping sense of dread.

He really isn't willing to face the possibility that someone might make him taste his own medicine for the first time by pushing him into the role of a supporting actor. He proceeds to go into a bit of a frenzy, stealing Team White's kickoff and trying to score a goal from the half-way line. He doesn't succeed, of course, but the play leads into a situation where he is able to be the first to a stray ball with an unobstructed view of the goal.

Thinking this is finally his chance to 'be the leading man', he dashes forward, only to get raced by Chigiri. Not yet in his shooting range, he wrestles with himself over the decision to either shoot immediately or try to dribble closer at the threat of losing the ball — but before he can make the final choice, Isagi appears into his direct line of sight.

And I'm just going to put this whole sequence here because it speaks for itself:

Through changing himself, Isagi has made Barou taste true defeat for the first time, without even realising just how much that has impacted the self-assured king. In Isagi's mind, Barou has transformed from someone amazing with vast potential into a pawn he can use to score his own goals, a true supporting actor in the strictest sense of the word.

As he is right now, Barou is no longer worth Isagi's admiration. And once again, Isagi thinks he has him all figured out.

For now.

Link to next post.

#barosagi #barousagi #bris #isbr #Blue Lock #bris/isbr meta